Dual Training Contract: Social Security Reductions for Your Company

To apply the reductions, the company must be up to date on payments with Spanish Social Security (TGSS) and the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT). It must appoint an internal mentor to supervise the employee's training, with a maximum of 5 trainees per mentor at any one time (or 3 in workplaces with fewer than 30 people). The contract must link the work performed to an official vocational qualification, a professional certificate or a university degree. The company must also draw up an individual training plan (PFI) under RD 1065/2025, setting out the learning path, the learning objectives and the mentoring calendar. Tecnocim manages all of these requirements from the outset, to avoid errors that could force you to repay the reductions already applied.

The dual training contract is designed for people aged 16 to 30 who hold no official qualification related to the role they will perform. There is no age limit for people with a recognised disability or at risk of social exclusion. People who hold another qualification can also sign one, provided they have not previously held a training contract at the same level and in the same sector. The company cannot use this contract with someone who has already worked 6 months or more in the same role at that same company (RD 1065/2025). The contract has no probationary period, a change introduced by RDL 32/2021 that sets it apart from the former training and apprenticeship contract.

The minimum term is 3 months and the maximum is 2 years, a clear improvement on the former training and apprenticeship contract, which required at least 12 months. For people with a disability or an intellectual limitation, the rules allow one further year (maximum 3 years). During the first year, the employee spends at most 65% of working time on productive work; in the second year, 85%. Pay must be at least 60% of the collective agreement in the first year and 75% in the second, and can never fall below the SMI in proportion to actual working time.

They are two forms of contract under article 11 of the Spanish Workers' Statute, with opposite aims. The dual training contract is for people who do not yet hold a qualification and obtain it while they work. The contract for gaining professional practice (formerly the work-experience contract) is for people who already hold a qualification and want to gain experience within 3 years of obtaining it. The financial difference is decisive: the dual training contract allows three Social Security reductions to be combined, for a net cost of barely €70/month, whereas the work-experience contract pays contributions at ordinary rates with no direct reductions.

Yes. When the company converts a dual training contract into a permanent contract at the end of its term, it is entitled to a further reduction in the Social Security contribution for 3 years: €128/month (€1,536 a year) for men and €147/month (€1,764 a year) for women. Adding the saving during the training contract itself (more than €7,400 over 2 years) to the reduction after conversion, the total saving can exceed €12,000 per employee over a 5-year cycle. Tecnocim handles the whole conversion process and the correct coding in the direct settlement system (SLD).