How do we hire a cleaner or nanny?

If you employ a cleaner, nanny or carer directly in Spain, you are their employer under a special domestic employment regime, even for a few hours a week. You register them with Social Security before they start and pay contributions each month. An agency or a self-employed cleaner takes that on instead.

Three ways to get help

Pay and conditions in 2026

• Hourly work: for workers paid by the hour who don’t live in, the minimum is €9.55 per hour actually worked, which already includes the share of rest days, holiday and extra payments
• Full-time: the minimum wage is €1,221 a month in 14 payments (€17,094 a year), or €40.70 a day. Workers get two extra payments a year
• Hours: at most 40 hours of actual work a week, 12 hours’ rest between days and 36 hours in a row off each week
• Holiday: 30 calendar days a year, with at least one block of 15 days
• Board and lodging: for live-in workers, you can deduct an agreed amount for food and housing, up to 30% of pay, but at least the minimum wage must be paid in cash
• Payslip: give a pay receipt each time you pay

Contract and trial period

Without a written contract, the job is presumed permanent and full-time, and either side can ask for it in writing at any time. You must give written details of the essential terms, including any pay in kind, agreed on-call time and overnight stays. You can agree a trial period of up to 2 months in writing, with notice of no more than 7 days.

Registering with Social Security

1. Register the worker (alta) before they start work: you can apply up to 60 days in advance
2. Use Import@ss, the Social Security portal, signing in with a digital certificate, Cl@ve or an SMS code. It takes up to 9 steps and creates your employer account code (CCC) and the worker’s Social Security number if needed
3. Give your bank account for the monthly direct debit, the hours a week and a month, and the hourly and monthly pay
4. If the worker works for several households, each employer registers them. Since 1 January 2023 this applies even for under 60 hours a month
5. Report any change in pay or hours, and deregister (baja) when the job ends

Contributions in 2026

Contributions are based on bands of monthly pay. Common contributions are 28.30% of the base: 23.60% paid by you and 4.70% by the worker. You deduct the worker’s share from their pay.

• Unemployment: 7.05% on a permanent contract (5.50% you, 1.55% the worker), 8.30% on a fixed-term one. FOGASA (the wage fund for unpaid wages) is 0.20%, paid by you
• Discounts: employers get a 20% reduction on their share of common contributions and 80% off their unemployment and FOGASA contributions. Lower-income households can instead get a 45% or 30% discount for one worker
• Example: a cleaner working 8 hours a week earns about €331 a month, which falls in the €436 band. Your common contribution of 23.60% is €102.90, or about €82 (about £70) after the 20% reduction, plus small amounts for unemployment, FOGASA and accident cover. Import@ss shows the exact amount before you confirm

The 2022 reforms: unemployment and dismissal

Real Decreto-ley 16/2022 ended the old right to dismiss a domestic worker without a reason (desistimiento) and gave domestic workers unemployment cover from 1 October 2022.

• You can end the contract for a justified reason: a fall in household income or rise in costs, a substantial change in the household’s needs, or behaviour that reasonably causes a loss of trust
• Tell the worker in writing, with the reason, and pay 12 days’ pay per year worked, up to 6 months’ pay, at the same time
• Give 20 days’ notice if they have worked for you more than a year, otherwise 7 days, or pay wages instead. A full-time worker gets 6 paid hours a week to look for work during notice
• If you skip the written notice or the compensation, it is treated as a dismissal under normal employment law, which can cost more. A live-in worker can’t be dismissed between 5pm and 8am except for very serious misconduct

For nannies and au pairs, see childcare. For your own job rights, see your rights at work. A gestoría (administrative agency) can handle registration and payslips for you.