Maximum length of sick leave in Spain
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Enter a long leave and its first day: the calendar marks the 365-day date, the 545-day date and who pays until then.
Your leave calendar
28 October 2027
Date on which 365 days are reached if the leave continues. Ordinary illness.
| Last expected day | 2 December 2027 |
| INSS or mutua from | 13 November 2026 |
| You move to 75% on | 18 November 2026 |
| Day 365: the INSS takes over | 28 October 2027 |
| Day 545: benefit ends | 25 April 2028 |
Dates count calendar days, weekends and holidays included (LGSS arts. 169 and 173).
| Days | Dates | % | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | 29 Oct 2026 – 31 Oct 2026 | 0% | Nobody: unpaid days |
| 4-15 | 1 Nov 2026 – 12 Nov 2026 | 60% | Employer, at its own cost |
| 16-20 | 13 Nov 2026 – 17 Nov 2026 | 60% | INSS or mutua (advanced by the employer) |
| 21-400 | 18 Nov 2026 – 2 Dec 2027 | 75% | INSS or mutua (advanced by the employer) |
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · Rules and agreements read in the BOE on 29 October 2026
Spanish sick leave can last at most 365 days, extendable by another 180 when recovery is expected within that time: 545 calendar days in all from the sick note. Up to day 365, the leave is supervised by your health service doctor, with the INSS and the mutua able to step in. From that day, only the INSS medical inspection can extend it, discharge you or propose permanent disability. For leave starting on 1 December 2026, 365 days are reached on 30 November 2027 and 545 on 28 May 2028. At that limit the benefit ends and the INSS has 90 days to assess whether there is permanent disability, a period it can stretch until 730 days in all. Meanwhile you keep receiving the same amount, though no contributions are paid.
The four stages of a long leave
Article 169.1.a) of the General Social Security Act sets the length at 365 days plus 180 of extension; article 170 says who decides at each stage and article 174 what happens at the end. Every period is in calendar days, counted from the date of the sick note and adding any relapses. For leave starting on 1 December 2026, the dates are as follows.
| Stage | Days | Until | Who decides |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary leave | 1 to 365 | 30 November 2027 | Health service doctor (or the mutua if work-related) |
| Extension | 366 to 545 | 28 May 2028 | INSS medical inspection |
| Assessment | 90 more days | 26 August 2028 | INSS, on permanent disability |
| Delayed assessment | up to 730 in all | 29 November 2028 | INSS, if improvement is expected |
Day 365
Once 365 days are reached, your doctor stops issuing confirmation notes and the INSS medical inspection becomes the only competent body. It can do three things: extend the leave, if it expects you to recover within the next 180 days; discharge you as cured or improved; or issue a discharge with a proposal of permanent disability. If it does nothing, the law presumes you are on extension. Against an INSS discharge at this stage you have 4 calendar days to lodge your disagreement, as medical discharge explains. The employer keeps advancing the benefit through payroll during the extension, and the rate stays at 75% of the base.
Your 365 and 545-day dates
Your leave calendar
28 October 2027
| Last expected day | 25 April 2028 |
| INSS or mutua from | 13 November 2026 |
| You move to 75% on | 18 November 2026 |
| Day 365: the INSS takes over | 28 October 2027 |
After day 545
The temporary incapacity benefit ends, but you are not left without income: you enter the extension of its economic effects and keep receiving the same amount until the INSS decides on permanent disability. If it is granted and the pension is higher, it is backdated to the day after the benefit ended. If it is refused, you must return to work, and the employer must take you back in your job. A new leave for the same condition can only be issued by the INSS within 180 days of the refusal, and after the benefit ends at 545 days more than 180 days must pass before a new right arises. Relapses count towards all these limits: we work them out in relapse.