Hello, a friend of mine called recently asking about maternity pay in Spain, but as I’ve never had a baby here I have no idea, so perhaps someone else can help? She owned her own hairdressing salon and paid into the system for 11 months, but that was a couple of years ago now. Since then she hasn’t paid any social security, etc… She wants to know if she will still receive the cheque for a baby from the government. She is a single mother. Any help appreciated, thanks 😊

Hi there,

It’s Sally here from the British Embassy in Madrid.  The Spanish Social Security Authorities (INSS) have a website which outlines requirements and characteristics of Spanish benefits.  Here are a couple, or there may be other useful pages on their site:

http://www.seg-social.es/Internet_6/Trabajadores/PrestacionesPension10935/Maternidad/index.htm

http://www.seg-social.es/Internet_6/Trabajadores/PrestacionesPension10935/Prestacionesfamilia10967/index.htm

If your friend is interested, there is also information on our website about registering the baby’s birth:

http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-spain/birth-registration

I’m assuming your friend is British, of course!  Sorry if I’ve got it wrong.

I hope you find something of use.

Sally

Hi Sally

Thanks so much for the info. I’ll pass it on to my friend and hopefully it’ll help

Keidi x

Wow, we have the British Embassy in our midst. Nice! Thanks for popping in Sally and I certainly hope you’ll stick around.

Keidi, we also recently posted an article about being pregnant in Spain. It seems to be timely as I have a lot of friends who are pregnant too (mini-baby boom?).