How we calculate sick pay
Independent, non-governmental site
The calculators run in your browser: what you type is neither sent nor stored. They apply the consolidated texts of the Spanish Official Gazette (BOE), read on 29 October 2026, and the articles of the national collective agreements published in the same gazette.
The base month
For leave starting up to 30 November 2026, the regulatory base is the contribution base for the month before the leave, as article 13 of Decree 1646/1972 says. From 1 December 2026, Royal Decree-law 31/2026 rewrites article 171.2 of the General Social Security Act and takes the month immediately before the previous month. If you joined the company the month before, that month counts; if you joined in the same month, the days elapsed. For the self-employed, article 318.h) applies from 21 October 2026, the day of publication, because the fourth final provision does not list it among the delayed effects; before that, article 6.2 of Royal Decree 1273/2003 applied.
The daily base
With monthly pay and a full month registered we divide by 30; otherwise by the days contributed that you enter. For work accidents and occupational disease we add the previous year's overtime divided by 365. The self-employed always divide by 30. The base cannot exceed €5,101.20 a month, the cap in Order PJC/297/2026. When you leave the base empty and give your yearly pay, we divide it by 12 and keep it between the minimum and maximum base: this is an estimate, and the right figure is the one on your payslip.
The rates and who pays each day
Ordinary illness and non-work accidents: nothing on days 1 to 3, 60% from day 4 to day 20 (Royal Decree 53/1980) and 75% from day 21 (article 2 of Decree 3158/1966); days 4 to 15 are paid by the employer and later days by the paying body, under article 173 of the General Social Security Act. Work accidents and occupational disease: the first day's wage paid by the employer and 75% from day two. Special situations: the ordinary illness scale, paid by the body from the day after the leave starts; organ donation at 100%. Before 1 December 2026, disabling menstruation and donation are paid from the first day of leave, as the previous wording said. Days are calendar days counted from the first day of leave, which is day 1.
Collective agreements
We read in the BOE the temporary incapacity article of 21 national agreements and checked the gazette's daily summaries from 1 January 2025 to 29 October 2026 for any later agreement replacing them. Each becomes bands of days with the total percentage it guarantees, on pay or on the base, as the article itself says. The top-up is the difference between that percentage and the day's statutory benefit, never negative. Conditions that cannot be modelled, such as yearly day caps, are shown next to the result. Provincial, regional and company agreements are not included.
Tests
Every rule has automated tests with hand-written cases on both sides of each date: leave starting on 30 November and on 1 December 2026, a self-employed worker on 20 and 21 October, days 3 and 4, 20 and 21, 15 and 16, a relapse at 180 and 181 days after discharge. The site is not published if a test fails.
Limits
The calculators do not know your file. They do not handle multiple jobs, part-time contracts with different bases each month, the special schemes for sea workers or domestic staff, or top-ups agreed within your company. Income tax withholding is not calculated, because it depends on data we do not ask for: amounts are gross. The official amount is set by the body that pays.
Updates
We reread the BOE by hand; nothing updates automatically. If Congress repeals Royal Decree-law 31/2026, or a new agreement is published, we will change the rules and the reading date. If you spot a mistake, write to us from the contact page; how we correct it is in the editorial policy.