Social partners critical of new family support allowance

The new family support allowance for each child born or adopted has been partially questioned by the social partners. Their objection relates to its seeming failure to tackle one of the most important problems relating to work–life balance in Spain, namely the lack of childcare facilities. The government hopes that the introduction of this new allowance will complement other mechanisms supporting work–life balance initiatives.

The aim of the government’s new family support allowance, which is currently with parliament for discussion, is to complement the range of mechanisms for facilitating work-life balance and provide some compensation for the costs incurred by families. The introduction of this allowance is in line with the long-term need to address issues associated with Spain’s ageing population.

The government proposes to offer families a new one-off allowance for the birth or adoption of a child, in order to provide partial compensation for the costs arising from caring for young children. This payment amounts to €2,500 and may be awarded to families in two different ways. First, it may be provided in the form of a tax benefit deducted from the amount of personal income tax payable. As a subsidiary measure, it may be provided through the social security system as a non-contributory benefit. The introduction of this measure is expected to result in total costs of over €1.5 billion.

Existing family support measures

Under the social security system, financial allowances are provided to families who have dependent children, according to the age and circumstances of the children. It also provides one-off allowances for the birth of a third child, as well as for successive children and multiple births.

Tax legislation also regulates certain benefits in relation to family responsibilities, such as: the ‘family minimum’ that is applied to determine the tax base of personal income tax; and the deductions for childbirth in favour of mothers contributing to the social security system who have children under the age of three years.

Position of social partners

The Spanish Economic and Social Council (Consejo Económico y Social, CES) – a government advisory body comprising the most representative trade unions and employer organisations – has issued a judgement on the government’s project (Dictamen09/2007 (in Spanish)) in September 2007. In addition to expressing its discontent with the procedure adopted, as it would like to have been consulted prior to the parliamentary debate, the CES included various observations in the report, including those listed below.

• The measures included in the project are presented in isolation, rather than forming part of a general framework of family support that gives priority to overcoming the current shortcomings of childcare support services, facilities and mechanisms. Although a considerable effort has been made in the schooling of children aged three to six years, a significant lack of childcare facilities remains for children under three years of age. In relation to the latter group, Spain is far from having achieved the target announced at the Barcelona Summit in March 2007: namely, to achieve 33% schooling among this age group by 2010.

• The government should draw up a white paper on the protection of families in Spain, taking a comparative approach to determine the current situation and evaluate the existing measures and mechanisms for detecting shortcomings and identifying possible solutions. The CES report also highlights the need for a calm and far-reaching social debate, involving the greatest possible level of participation, in order to determine the approach and characteristics of an integrated national family support policy dealing with all possible dimensions, situations and actions.

• The government’s plan raises certain doubts about how the measures should be carried out and financed. Particularly striking is the fact that the family support allowance is articulated as a social benefit with a dual nature: a tax deduction and a social security benefit. The CES considers that this may complicate the management of the allowance, making it even dysfunctional in some cases.

Emma Cerviño, CIREM Foundation