Youth reform and minor protection companies must guarantee SMI compliance

The Directorate General of Labor has published Resolution of July 30, 2026 (BOE-A-2026-17490), registering the agreement to modify the V State Collective Agreement for Youth Reform and Minor Protection. This modification introduces the Sixth Additional Provision, establishing a strict mechanism to ensure that workers in this specific sector receive the Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMI) in accordance with current legislation.

What changes

The core change introduced by this resolution is the formal inclusion of the Sixth Additional Provision within the V State Collective Agreement for Youth Reform and Minor Protection. This provision establishes a mandatory floor for wages that is directly linked to the evolution of the SMI.

According to the text, the agreement guarantees the perception of the SMI in force at any given moment. To achieve this, the sum of the base salary and the specific supplement for each job position must not be lower than the applicable SMI. If this sum falls below the legal minimum, the employer is obligated to supplement the amount to reach the SMI threshold.

Crucially, the Sixth Additional Provision specifies which components of the payroll are excluded from this calculation. To prevent companies from using variable bonuses to meet the minimum wage requirement, the following supplements cannot be counted toward the SMI threshold:

• Seniority supplements (antigüedad).
• Night shift premiums (nocturnidad).
• Holiday/festivity premiums (festividad).

This means that the guarantee is focused on the core components of the salary, ensuring that the fundamental pay for the worker's role is legally compliant, regardless of their seniority or specific shift patterns.

Context

This modification arises from a need to address a gap identified in the previous version of the collective agreement. The negotiating table, composed of employer associations such as AEFYME, AEEISSS, FEPJJ, APAES, and HEBE, alongside trade unions like Federación de Enseñanza de CC.OO., UGT, and CIG, recognized that the previous framework did not sufficiently automate the adaptation of wages to the SMI's evolution.

In the Spanish labor market, the Collective Agreement (Convenio Colectivo) in Spain serves as the regulatory backbone for specific sectors, defining wage scales and working conditions. However, when the SMI is increased by the government via Royal Decree, many sector-specific agreements face a mismatch between their established tables and the new legal minimum. This resolution seeks to prevent such mismatches by creating a self-adjusting mechanism within the Collective Agreement (Convenio Colectivo) in Spain for this specific sector, ensuring that the base pay structure remains robust and legally compliant without requiring constant renegotiation for every SMI hike.

Who is affected and how

The impact of this resolution is concentrated on the specialized sector of youth reform and minor protection. The profiles affected are as follows:

SMEs and Large Companies

All companies operating within the youth reform and minor protection sector are directly affected. For these entities, the obligation is financial and administrative. They must ensure that their payroll systems are configured to monitor the SMI continuously. Whenever the SMI increases, these companies must automatically verify if the sum of the base salary and the specific supplement for every employee meets the new minimum. If it does not, the company must absorb the cost of the difference to ensure compliance with the Sixth Additional Provision of the V State Collective Agreement.

Self-employed Professionals (Autónomos)

Self-employed professionals who operate within this specific sector and employ staff under the framework of this collective agreement are also subject to these rules. They must manage their labor costs with the same rigor as a large corporation, ensuring that any employee's core salary meets the SMI requirements, excluding the prohibited supplements.

Workers in the sector

For the employees, this is a protective measure. It guarantees that their "real" base pay (the amount they receive for the job itself, independent of extra bonuses) will always respect the legal minimum. It prevents the common practice of using non-core supplements (like seniority or night shifts) to artificially inflate a salary to meet the SMI, thereby protecting the purchasing power of the worker's core wage.

What to do and when

Following the publication of the resolution in the BOE, companies must take immediate steps to ensure compliance. There is no specific grace period mentioned for the implementation of the Sixth Additional Provision, implying that it must be applied as soon as the agreement is in force.

• Audit Payroll Structures: Conduct an immediate review of all current salary tables. Specifically, calculate the sum of the 'salario base' and the 'complemento específico' for every position.
• Verify SMI Alignment: Compare these sums against the current SMI. If any position falls below the threshold, the salary must be adjusted immediately.
• Update Accounting and Payroll Systems: Ensure that the payroll software distinguishes between the core salary (used for SMI compliance) and the excluded supplements (seniority, night shift, and holidays) to avoid errors in future calculations.
• Monitor SMI Updates: Establish a protocol to automatically trigger a salary review whenever the Spanish government announces an increase in the SMI.

For specific guidance on how these changes affect your particular company's budget or labor structure, we recommend consulting with the relevant department at BMC.