Workers in Spain face 10-day deadline for crucial Social Security notices

Workers on sick leave in Spain can get a text or email to say a Social Security decision is waiting, yet that alert isn’t the actual notice itself. Leave the real notice unopened for 10 days and it automatically counts as delivered, so deadlines can start running before anyone has even read a word.

The 10 days start when the notice goes online 

Medical review summonses, decisions on benefits and requests for paperwork used to come by post. Since Tuesday September 1, though, Social Security now sends them, in most cases, only through its electronic headquarters (the sede electrónica, its official online portal) for people on sick leave. 

The catch is the time frame you’re given. Once a notice is posted there, you’ve got 10 calendar days to open it, and opening it in time means it counts as delivered that day. Leave it longer and it’s treated as rejected, which just means Social Security can carry on with your case as though you’d received it.

It covers sick pay and incapacity cases

The rule applies to anyone applying for or receiving temporary incapacity benefit (sick pay from Social Security), and to people in permanent incapacity cases or with a permanent injury that doesn’t leave them unable to work. That includes notices such as a summons to a medical tribunal after a year of sick leave, or the tribunal’s decision, which can be an automatic discharge (alta automática) back to work. 

Some exceptions still allow paper notices, including when Social Security has no contact details for you or when you ask for them in person at one of its information and assistance centres (CAISS). Our earlier guide to the switch lists the other groups affected. 

A text or email is only a nudge

Social Security sends the alert to the mobile number or email address it already has on file, to say a notice is waiting in the portal. However, the alert is for information only, and a message that doesn’t seem to have arrived doesn’t make the notice invalid either.

That matters because fraudsters already pose as Social Security by text and email. So if an unexpected message asks you to tap a link, go to the official site yourself instead.

What an unopened notice can cost 

Some notices carry their own deadlines, such as a time limit to reply or hand over documents, and those can start running from the notice, whether or not you’ve read it. Union CSIF says missing the window can mean losing the chance to make allegations or appeal, and in some cases it can affect sick pay continuing.

How long you’d have to challenge a decision depends on what it says, so a gestor (the professionals in Spain who handle official paperwork) can check the deadline in your case.

Keep your details and your login up to date

Start by checking that Social Security has your current mobile number and email. You’ll also need a working way in, either Cl@ve (the government’s online ID), a digital certificate or an electronic national ID card.

Anyone who struggles with the technology can ask for in-person help at one of the CAISS assistance centres, where staff can help people reach their notices. So while you’re off sick, check the portal every few days, because the 10 days start counting as soon as a notice is posted.