Sick leave while receiving unemployment benefit in Spain
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Enter your monthly unemployment benefit, the months left and how long you expect the leave to last: you will see what you get each month.
Your sick pay and unemployment
€1,100/month
Sick pay equals your unemployment benefit and does not extend it (LGSS art. 283.2). After it runs out: €480 a month.
| During the leave you get monthly | €1,100 |
| Benefit months used up by the leave | 4 |
| Afterwards, for 2 months | €480/month |
80% of the IPREM: €480 a month with the €600 IPREM. Meanwhile the SEPE keeps paying your contributions.
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · Rules and agreements read in the BOE on 29 October 2026
If you receive contributory unemployment benefit and a doctor signs you off sick, article 283.2 of the General Social Security Act sets three things. First, the sick pay equals your unemployment benefit, no more and no less. Second, the unemployment period is not extended because you are off sick; the months run as before. Third, if the leave continues when the unemployment benefit ends, you move to 80% of the IPREM, €480 a month, unless it is a relapse of a leave that began while you had a contract, in which case you keep the same amount as before. Meanwhile, the SEPE keeps paying your contributions. With benefit of 1100 euros, 4 months left and 6 months of leave, you get €1,100 for 4 months and €480 for the remaining 2.
What the law says
Article 283.2 of the General Social Security Act deals with someone receiving full unemployment benefit who moves onto temporary incapacity. The sick pay is set at an amount equal to the unemployment benefit, and the period of unemployment benefit is not extended by the leave. Meanwhile, the body paying the unemployment benefit keeps paying Social Security contributions. Your earlier contribution base and the sick pay rate do not matter: the figure is your unemployment benefit.
The difference shows when unemployment benefit runs out and the leave continues. If the leave is a relapse of a spell that began while you had a contract, you keep receiving the same amount. If not, you move to 80% of the public income indicator: with the IPREM at €600 a month, that is €480.00. To check whether your leave counts as a relapse, see the relapse page.
| Situation | First months | After the benefit | Total over 6 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| New leave | €1,100.00 × 4 | €480.00 × 2 | €5,360.00 |
| Relapse of a leave from employment | €1,100.00 × 4 | €1,100.00 × 2 | €6,600.00 |
A month-by-month example
Say you receive €1,100 of unemployment benefit, have 4 months left and an operation keeps you off for 6 months. For the first 4 months you get €1,100.00, as before, and those months come off your benefit. When the benefit reaches its end date, 2 more months of leave follow at €480.00. Had the leave been a relapse of an injury from when you were working, those months would be paid at €1,100.00. After discharge, if no benefit is left, you may qualify for an allowance: the employment service decides.
Your sick pay while unemployed
Your sick pay and unemployment
€1,100/month
| During the leave you get monthly | €1,100 |
| Benefit months used up by the leave | 4 |
| Afterwards, for 2 months | €480/month |
Seasonal permanent workers
Paragraph 3 of the same article extends these rules to permanent seasonal workers (fijos discontinuos) during inactive periods. If you are between call-ups and receiving unemployment benefit, sick pay equals that benefit and does not extend it. The article does not spell out what happens if a call-up arrives in the middle of the leave: if it happens to you, ask the employment service and the paying body to confirm in writing how you will be paid. The rules for leave under a contract are in who pays sick leave.
If you are dismissed while already on leave
That is a different case, covered by paragraph 1: the leave starts under a contract and the contract ends during it. What matters there is the cause of the leave, ordinary illness or a work accident, because it decides whether the months are deducted from future unemployment benefit. We explain it in dismissed while on sick leave.