January 2026
Royal Decree 1189/2025, of 26 December, amending provisions relating to the regime of company-based programmed training and certain subsidies in the field of employment and work-based training
I. Introduction
Royal Decree 1189/2025, of 26 December, was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) on 31 December 2025, with the stated purpose of carrying out a regulatory update deemed necessary to certain implementing provisions adopted under Law 30/2015, of 9 September, as well as to specific subsidies in the field of employment and work-based training.
Specifically, in relation to the latter, the Royal Decree refers to the following:
- Firstly, the amendment of Royal Decree 357/2006, of 24 March, which regulates the direct award of certain subsidies in the fields of employment and occupational vocational training. The aim is to maintain the system of direct awards for subsidies granted to local authorities for the recruitment of unemployed persons in income-guarantee projects under the Rural Employment Promotion Programme (Programa de Fomento del Empleo Agrario), while abolishing the application of this regime to subsidies granted to local authorities that are not income-guarantee measures, namely those intended to generate stable employment. In addition, the scope of the direct award regime is extended to cover the new daily attendance allowance for participation in training actions by certain groups of unemployed persons, an allowance that has been incorporated into the specific regulations governing work-based training, as outlined below.
- Secondly, Royal Decree 694/2017, of 3 July, which implements Law 30/2015, of 9 September, regulating the Vocational Training for Employment System within the labour sphere, governs the various work-based training initiatives and programmes applicable throughout the national territory. Its purpose is to promote and extend, among companies and both employed and unemployed workers, training that enhances employability and professional and personal development, responds to the needs of the productive system and business competitiveness, and contributes to a knowledge-based productive model. Achieving these strategic objectives requires a regulatory framework that is subject to constant updating, capable of responding to the evolving needs of companies and workers, as well as to the financing requirements of training activities. In this context, certain amendments to the regulations governing work-based training are described as urgent, in order to enable the proper implementation and financing of the initiatives and programmes envisaged. Accordingly, Royal Decree 694/2017, of 3 July, is amended to incorporate into its provisions the aforementioned economic allowance for daily attendance at work-based training activities for unemployed persons in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla and, where applicable, for unemployed persons belonging to priority support groups.
- Furthermore, this amendment expressly seeks, on the one hand, to improve provisions relating to the monitoring and control of work-based training activities, as well as the application and justification of the bonuses used to finance them; and, on the other hand, to ensure the continued operation of the existing Sectoral Joint Committees until such time as the Sectoral Joint Structures provided for in the regulations governing work-based training are formally established.
