What is the statutory compensation scale for traffic accidents (the “baremo”) and where can its tables be found?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

It is the system laid down by law for calculating how much is paid for the deaths and injuries caused by a road traffic accident. It is set out in the “Ley sobre responsabilidad civil y seguro en la circulación de vehículos a motor”, Spain's Motor Insurance Act, applies to accidents occurring from 2016 onwards and is binding on insurers and judges. The rules can be found in the “BOE”, Spain's Official State Gazette. The amounts are updated every year and the “Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones”, Spain's insurance regulator, publishes each year's tables on its website. How it is organised It has three groups of tables: Tables 1, for death. They set what each bereaved relative receives, such as the spouse or partner, children, parents or siblings. Tables 2, for after-effects. Table 2.A.1 gives the points for each after-effect, usually with a minimum and a maximum. Table 2.A.2 converts the points into euros according to the injured person's age. Tables 3, for temporary injuries. They pay for each day until recovery or stabilisation, according to its severity. They also pay for each operation. Within each group, table A covers basic personal harm, table B the particular harm in each case and table C financial loss, which means expenses and lost earnings. Where to find them The rules are in the BOE, in the consolidated text of Royal Legislative Decree 8/2004 (the “Real Decreto Legislativo”), Title IV and the annex. The amounts shown in the annex are not up to date. Each year's amounts are on the website of the regulator, which publishes them in an official decision. The 2026 decision is dated 3 February and was published in the BOE of 18 February. It raises the amounts by 2,9 %, which is how much prices rose in 2025. Many websites offer calculators. They are useful as a guide, but you should check that they use the tables for the right year and not those of the system in force before 2016. Which year applies The scale in force on the day of the accident applies, with its amounts updated to the year in which the compensation is set by agreement or by judgment. From the moment the insurer owes late-payment interest, the amounts stop being updated. The tables for lost earnings and for help from another person do not follow the consumer price index (CPI) and only change when the actuarial calculations on which they are based are revised. The changes made by Law 5/2025 apply to accidents occurring on or after 26 July 2025. In addition, from 2026 the annual increase follows the CPI instead of pension uprating.