How much of my unemployment benefit can be attached?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

The same as from a salary, because unemployment benefit (“prestación por desempleo”) and unemployment assistance (“subsidios”) are attached within the limits the law sets for salaries and pensions. The part that does not exceed the national minimum wage (“salario mínimo interprofesional”), 1.221 euros a month in 2026, cannot be attached. Of anything above that figure, a percentage is attached in bands, starting at 30 %. Those limits do not apply if the debt is maintenance and, in some cases, a compensatory pension (“pensión compensatoria”), because the judge then decides how much is attached. Why it is protected like a salary The law governing the “Seguridad Social”, the Spanish social security system, says that its benefits, including unemployment benefit, cannot be withheld, assigned or set off, except to pay maintenance to a spouse or children or debts owed by the beneficiary to the Social Security system itself. For attachments, it refers to the “Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil”, Spain's Civil Procedure Act, which protects salaries, pensions and other payments of the same kind in the same way. That is why the same scale applies to unemployment benefit as to a salary. The first 1.221 euros a month are exempt. Of anything above that figure, up to 2.442 euros, 30 % is attached. The following bands, from 50 % to 90 %, only count if the unemployment benefit is added to other income. With unemployment benefit of 1.400 euros, for example, 53,70 euros a month can be attached, 30 % of the 179 euros above the minimum wage. With benefit of 1.100 euros, nothing. Unemployment assistance payments, which are considerably lower, do not reach the minimum wage on their own and cannot be attached for an ordinary debt. What can change the calculation A few details can change the amount attached: If you also receive other income, for example from a part-time job compatible with the benefit, the amounts are added together and the protected part is deducted only once. Unemployment benefit is paid in twelve payments, with no extra payments (“pagas extra”, the additional monthly payments in a Spanish salary). In 2022 the “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, held, in a case where the Social Security system had attached a pension, that the protection is calculated on the minimum wage for the whole year, which includes the extra payments. The judgment comes from the chamber that reviews attachments by public authorities, but on the strength of its reasoning it can be argued before the court that the protected part of unemployment benefit is 1.424,50 euros a month, the annual minimum wage divided by twelve, although it is not certain that the court will accept this. If what is attached is the account into which your unemployment benefit is paid, the law requires the protected part of what was paid in that month to be respected there too. If the bank withholds too much, you can ask the court to release it, providing the benefit certificate and the account statements. The maintenance exception If the debt is maintenance, such as maintenance for children or for a spouse set in a separation or divorce, the minimum wage limit does not apply. The judge decides how much is attached according to the circumstances. Even a small unemployment benefit can be affected. The same may happen with the compensatory pension, the one a spouse pays the other after separation or divorce, if the person receiving it asks for this and shows that they need it.