- The Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday a royal decree-law that represents the largest increase in the history of the Government's contribution to the unit with an investment of 6.2 billion euros more in 2026 and 2027 compared to the last budgets
- It is a structural reform that extends the amounts that the State transfers to the autonomous governments for each person who has a recognized degree of dependence, and that involves doubling the amounts of people who require more support.
- This increase in funding, promoted by the Ministry of Social Rights, will be shielded by law and will mean that the State’s contribution to the unit will reach a total of 7,239.4 million euros in 2027, twice as much as in 2025
- Starting July 1, CCAA governments will receive increased funding to continue reducing waiting lists, hiring more staff, improving conditions, offering more services and expanding others such as home care.
- In addition, with this royal decree-law, the coalition government completes its political commitment to ensure that the State’s contribution to the SAAD reaches in 2027 50% of the total spending of the unit, which is financed along with what each regional government contributes.
- Likewise, this expansion plan will allow the governments of the CCAA to implement the structural changes that will be established by the reform of the laws of Dependency and Disability, which is currently being processed in the Congress of Deputies, and consolidates the mandate of the new Article 49 of the Spanish Constitution to guarantee rights and inclusion to people with disabilities.
The Council of Ministers approved on Tuesday a real decree-law with which The Government of Spain is going to make the largest investment in its history to the system of dependence: 6.2 billion euros More (6.162.904.040 €), only between 2026 and 2027. A record figure that will be achieved through a structural reform of the financing of the SAAD (System for Autonomy and Care of Dependency) and that will consist of an increase in the amounts of the minimum level of protection that the State transfers to the autonomous governments for each person who has a recognized degree of dependency. Amounts that will be doubled in the case of people with greater dependency and who therefore require more resources:
- The amounts for grade III (great dependency) rise by 128%, going from 290 euros per month to 660 euros per month.
- The amounts for grade II (severe dependence) rise by 100%, going from 130 euros per month to 260 euros per month.
- The amounts for grade I (moderate dependence) rise by 18%, going from 76 euros per month to 90 euros per month.
In total, these increases imply that the financial contribution of the Government from Spain to the dependency will reach 5,513.8 million euros in 2026 and €7,239.4 million in 2027. This means that next year, the State’s investment in dependency will be double that in 2025 and five times more than a decade ago, when the executive who ruled between 2011 and 2018 cut its contribution to SAAD by more than 5.4 billion euros. Cuts that were reversed in the last legislature with a shock plan put in place by the Government of Spain and that allowed to double the state contribution.
In this way, the Government of Spain takes the first step to consolidate the system of dependence, expanding its contribution to the financing of SAAD.
It does so through the royal decree-law approved on Tuesday, whose effects will be immediate. From July 1 of this year 2026, the AGE (General Administration of the State) will begin to transfer a greater amount of money to the governments of the CCAA (Autonomous Communities), which have the exclusive competence to manage the dependency.
In addition, this extended investment is shielded in the future as it will be an obligation for the State, regardless of the government and its budgetary situation, and given that these new amounts to cover the minimum levels of protection could only be reversed by a rule with the rank of law. This new funding is thus consolidated, with the aim of improving the quality of care and, at the same time, facing new challenges such as the ageing of the population or changes in family structures.
Likewise, this increase in funding will mean, immediately, increase the benefits of more than 1.6 million people in Spain (there are 1,682,785 people with effective benefit according to the latest data published by Imserso, as of May 31, 2026, in our country). Likewise, this will mean that in 2027 the State’s contribution to the SAAD will reach 50% of the total expenditure of the unit, which means that the Government will conclude this political commitment signed in the coalition agreement.
More investment, more improvements
With this important step to consolidate the SAAD, the Government of Spain not only makes more resources available to the governments of the CCAA to carry out improvements in the system, but also so that they can move towards the new care model promoted by the Ministry of Social Rights two years ago with a state strategy to deinstitutionalize people in situations of dependency. That is, to leave behind a care-oriented approach to care and move towards a more person-centered one, in which you have more rights and autonomy, and which prioritizes your will (such as living in your home or in close and communal environments).
With this objective, The autonomous governments will now have a greater Economic amount each year to invest in dependency and in improvements such as:
- Continue to reduce waiting lists for access to a dependency allowance, streamlining the system and minimizing bureaucracy
- Recruiting more workers to provide care for people in situations of dependency and improve their working conditions
- Offer more and better services to people in situations of dependency, especially those in a more serious situation
- Expanding home care and increasing day centres
- Investing more in technology and consolidating services such as telecare
- Transform residential centers to overcome the model of macrorresidencies and enable spaces in which users have more autonomy, in tune with the different residential projects that the Government of Spain has launched in recent years through the PRTR (Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan)
A social investment with economic return
In addition to all the improvements that can be applied with this increase in the financing of the unit, the Ministry of Social Rights estimates that this social policy will have a high economic and social profitability, and that it will be able to generate a significant impact on economic activity, based on different studies published in recent years.
One of these studies was published a month ago with the title “The Right to Care and the Economy of Care in Spain”, and carried out by the CENIE (International Center on Aging). According to this report, which analyzed the shock plan of the Government of Spain to reverse the cuts in the SAAD, each euro that was invested in dependency generated 1.6 euros of economic activity. The study also points out that this investment created 95,000 direct jobs in the sector and that 49% of spending on this system returned to public administrations through social contributions and taxes.
Based on these data, the Ministry of Social Rights estimates that, from 2026, the greatest investment that the State will make in dependence on this expansion plan can translate into an economic impact of up to 4,000 million euros, with an approximate return to the public coffers of 3,000 million euros, also allowing nearly 100,000 new jobs to be created.
Reform of dependency and disability laws
Another fundamental objective of this expansion of the financing of the SAAD is to strengthen the resources received by the autonomous governments to implement the structural changes established by the reform of the Dependency and Disability Laws, currently being processed in the Congress of Deputies. A rule that, if supported by the chamber, will modify both the Law for the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for People in Situations of Dependency and the General Law on the Rights of People with Disabilities and their Social Inclusion.
This legislative reform includes new services that the governments of the Autonomous Communities will have to offer through the SAAD such as:
- New models of collaborative coexistence, and care and support in shared housing
- Assistive products that improve autonomy such as electric wheelchairs, walkers, articulated beds or voice assistants, which will be served by loan or temporary assignment
- Personal Assistance Services for Those Who Want It and Have Greater Support Needs
- Extension of the home help service, for people who receive this help they can be accompanied by their caregivers in other activities such as going to the doctor or making the purchase
At the same time, this reform will consolidate new achievements such as recognizing teleassistance as a universal right to ensure that everyone who requires this service can access it, and also ensuring that this service cannot be unique and must be combined with other supports. Likewise, the financial benefit for family care will be extended until the last day of the month in which the death of the dependent person occurs, to avoid having to reintegrate financial benefits.
This reform incorporates other important advances such as offering the user the right to decide on the benefits and services he receives, and guaranteeing his right to remain in the chosen environment or to receive care free of physical, mechanical, chemical or pharmacological constraints.
On the other hand, it is guaranteed that people in situations of dependency will receive health care wherever they live, including
the residences, establishing bases for the autonomous governments to coordinate their health and social services, and with the aim of avoiding what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic in some residences.
Higher quality employment and less bureaucracy
Among the main objectives of both the budget increase approved on Tuesday and this legislative reform is also to improve the quality of employment of the people who work in the dependency, with the maximum of improving the conditions of the people cared for and, at the same time, improving the conditions of the people who care.
Likewise, one of the most important goals is to be able to incorporate more professionals into a system that will need to increase its staff in the coming years to face the demographic challenge of having increasingly aging populations.
To this end, the regional governments will not only have more money to be able to hire and improve the working conditions of the workers of the system (mostly women), but the reform of the laws of dependency and disability itself incorporates a specific article on the quality of care jobs, aimed at ensuring that the workers have a dignified, stable and professionalized work situation. This article also states that the Territorial Council, composed of the Government of Spain and the governments of the CCAA, must establish both the criteria of accreditation of quality and standards of employment, as well as the appropriate number of professionals according to user profile, qualification and training.
On the other hand, both the expansion of dependency investment and this legislative reform will allow the introduction of mechanisms to speed up and accelerate the administrative processes linked to dependency and disability.
At the normative level, one of the most outstanding advances will be the automatic recognition of 33% of disability to people with a degree I in the SAAD, and people who obtain a degree II or III will be offered a gateway to be recognized with 65% of disability. In addition, an urgent procedure will be established so that people in particularly vulnerable situations can access services and benefits sooner.
Fulfilling the Article 49 Mandate
With the new state funding from SAAD and the ongoing reform, the government is also taking a very important step to provide more financial and regulatory resources to the governments of the CCAA to comply with the mandate of the new Article 49 of the Spanish Constitution, reformed in 2024 to offer more dignity and more protection to people with disabilities, and which involves guaranteeing rights such as universal accessibility.