Spain's mandatory pay register: what it is and how to comply

The gender pay gap in Spain stands at 15.7% (INE, 2025). To close it, Real Decreto 902/2020 requires every company to keep a pay register, whatever its size or sector. If your company does not yet have one up to date, it is exposed to fines of up to €225,018.

What is the mandatory pay register?

The pay register is a document setting out the average pay of the whole workforce, broken down by sex. Its purpose is to guarantee pay transparency and to detect possible pay discrimination between women and men doing work of equal value.

The legal basis sits in two main rules:

- Article 28 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores (the Spanish Workers' Statute, as amended by RDL 6/2019): it requires companies to keep a pay register with average values broken down by sex.

- Real Decreto 902/2020, of 13 October, on equal pay: it sets out the content, format and requirements of the pay register. It came into force on 14 April 2021.

The pay register is not one more piece of paperwork. It is a diagnostic tool that lets a company spot pay inequalities and correct them before the Spanish Labour Inspectorate does it for them.

Which companies must keep a pay register?

Every company is covered, whatever its number of employees. That includes:

- Companies with a single employee

- SMEs and micro-companies

- Large corporations

- Cooperatives with employed staff

- Public administrations (with their own particularities)

It makes no difference whether the workforce is entirely male or entirely female: the obligation applies just the same. Senior post holders and management must also appear in the register.

The data bears out the need: the average annual salary for women was €25,591 against €30,372 for men (INE, 2025). Also, 24.2% of women earned at or below the Spanish minimum wage, against 10.3% of men (INE, 2024).

Does your company comply with the pay register? Request a free assessment and our team will review where you stand on equal pay.

What data the pay register must include

Article 5 of RD 902/2020 states that the register must contain, as a minimum, the following data broken down by sex and distributed across professional groups, categories or posts of equal value:

In addition, in companies with 50 or more employees, when the average pay of one sex exceeds that of the other by 25% or more, the company must justify that the difference is due to reasons unrelated to sex.

A Supreme Court ruling (STS 1302/2024, of 21 November) confirmed that there is no obligation to include data that would identify the individual pay of each employee, only the aggregate average values.

How to draw up the pay register step by step

The Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Economy provides companies with the IR! tool (Instrumento para el Registro Retributivo), a free Excel file that automates the calculations. It can be downloaded from the Ministry website.

These are the steps to complete the register:

1. Gather pay data for the whole workforce for the previous calendar year, including directors and senior post holders

1. Classify by professional group or by posts of equal value

1. Break the data down by item: base salary, salary supplements and non-salary payments

1. Calculate average values (arithmetic mean and median) for each item, separated by sex

1. Analyse the differences: identify gaps above 25% and document the objective justifications

1. Consult the employees' legal representatives before drawing it up (mandatory under RD 902/2020)

1. Update it every year and whenever there are significant changes to the pay structure

The IR! tool generates the necessary tables and charts automatically once the data has been entered. Using it is voluntary, but it guarantees that the legal requirements are met.

Do you need help with the pay register and the equality plan? At Tecnocim Innova we work with you through the whole process: from the assessment to implementation.

Penalties for failing to keep a pay register

Having no pay register, or an incomplete one, is a serious offence in employment law under the Ley sobre Infracciones y Sanciones en el Orden Social (LISOS), the Spanish law on employment offences and penalties. Fines vary with severity:

Refusing to hand over documents requested by the Spanish Labour Inspectorate can also count as obstruction of an inspection, with further penalties.

The Labour Inspectorate has stepped up its pay register checks since 2022. Enforcement action on equal pay has grown over recent years, and the Inspectorate is already penalising small businesses, including self-employed people with a single member of staff.

EU pay transparency directive: what changes in 2026

Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament strengthens pay transparency obligations and must be transposed into Spanish law before 7 June 2026. Although Spain already has RD 902/2020, the directive brings significant changes:

- Pay information in job adverts: companies will have to tell candidates the pay band for the post before the interview

- Ban on asking about pay history during recruitment

- 5% gap: if the pay difference exceeds 5% with no objective justification, the company will have to start a joint pay assessment with the employee representatives (against the current 25%)

- Pay confidentiality clauses void: contracts will not be able to stop employees sharing information about their pay

- Periodic pay gap reports: companies with more than 100 employees will have to publish data on pay differences

Companies that already keep their pay register up to date and have a pay audit in place will start with an advantage when these new obligations take effect.

How do the pay register and the pay audit differ?

The two are often confused, but there are key differences:

The pay audit goes deeper: it includes job evaluation, analysis of the causes of the gap and an action plan to correct it. If your company has more than 50 employees, it needs both documents.

At Tecnocim Innova we advise companies on drawing up the pay register, the pay audit and the equality plan. We also help you identify Social Security contribution reductions linked to hiring on equality criteria.

Next step

The pay register is not optional and the Spanish Labour Inspectorate is already penalising companies that do not keep it current. With the EU pay transparency directive on the doorstep (June 2026), the requirements will only grow.

Do not wait for a formal demand. Contact Tecnocim Innova and we will help you get your pay register in order, comply with the rules in force and prepare for the new European requirements.