PAFED 2026: What Employment Services SMEs Can Use Now

Key data

If you have an SME and need to hire or access pre-screened candidates, the Annual Plan for the Promotion of Decent Employment 2026 (PAFED 2026) activates public resources you can access right now. It is not a bureaucratic procedure: it is already approved financing that is executed through the employment services of your regional government.

The regulation was approved by the Council of Ministers on June 16, 2026 under the Law 3/2023 on Employment and was published in the BOE on July 21, 2026. Its execution is immediate and is the responsibility of regional public employment services.

What does this regulation establish?

PAFED 2026 is the annual planning instrument for active employment policies in Spain. Each year, this plan specifies how state financing is distributed among regional governments so they can execute employment programs. The 2026 plan is aligned with the Employment Strategy 2025-2028 and incorporates evaluation indicators and a dashboard with specific targets derived from that strategy.

The programs and services financed by PAFED 2026 are as follows:

• Professional guidance: individualized advice to unemployed persons and workers to define their career path.
• Employment training: courses and training activities aimed at improving employability.
• Job placement: intermediation programs between companies and candidates.
• Entrepreneurship: support for people who want to start their own business.
• Gender equality: specific programs to reduce the employment gap between men and women. Gender mainstreaming is mandatory in all plan programs.

The plan incorporates a dashboard with indicators and specific targets derived from the 2025-2028 Strategy, which allows evaluation of goal achievement by regional government. This represents a step forward compared to previous plans in terms of accountability.

Economic and operational impact

For companies, PAFED 2026 does not generate direct costs: it does not create new payment obligations or sanctions. Its impact is one of opportunity: it activates free public services that SMEs can use to reduce their selection and training costs.

The plan distributes financing among all regional governments, so available services and their intensity may vary depending on the territory. Execution is the responsibility of each regional public employment service (SEPE at the state level, plus the agencies of each regional government such as SOC in Catalonia, LABORA in Valencia, SEPE Andalusia, etc.).

Who does it affect?

• SMEs and microenterprises that need to hire and want to access pre-screened candidates at no cost.
• Large companies with training needs for their workforce or restructuring processes.
• Self-employed workers and entrepreneurs seeking support to create or consolidate their business.
• Unemployed workers who need guidance or training to return to the labor market.
• Working employees who want to improve their qualifications or change sectors.
• Regional public employment services, which are the direct executors of the plan and must adapt their programs to the dashboard indicators.
• Companies in sectors with gender gaps, which can benefit from specific female placement programs.

Practical example

An SME in the logistics sector with 15 employees needs to hire three warehouse operators. Instead of posting offers on paid portals and managing hundreds of applications, it can contact the public employment service of its regional government (for example, the SEPE or equivalent regional service) and request labor intermediation under PAFED 2026.

The employment service, financed by the plan, pre-screens candidates who have already gone through professional guidance and, in some cases, specific training. The company receives a reduced number of profiles tailored to its offer, at no direct cost. Furthermore, if any of the candidates belongs to a group with insertion difficulties, the company can access Social Security contribution bonuses through labor insertion programs linked to the plan.

This same scheme applies to a company that wants to train its current workforce: it can request information about co-financed training activities available in its territory, reducing the cost of internal training.

What should companies do now?

1. Contact the public employment service of your regional government to learn about active programs in your territory derived from PAFED 2026. Each regional government executes the plan with its own timelines and calls.
2. Identify if you have hiring needs in the next 6 months and communicate them to the employment service so they can include you in their active intermediation processes.
3. Check available training activities for your sector: the plan finances training that can benefit your current employees or candidates you plan to hire.
4. Review whether your company can benefit from gender equality programs, especially if you operate in sectors with low female presence. Gender mainstreaming is mandatory in all plan programs.
5. Keep your company profile updated in SEPE and in the corresponding regional service, as labor insertion programs channel candidates through offers registered in those systems.

Official source

Consult complete regulation in official source

Notice: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific decisions, consult a qualified professional. Source: https://www.boe.es/diario_boe/txt.php?id=BOE-A-2026-15923