Minimum living income and unemployment in 2026
Independent, non-governmental site
Enter the unemployment assistance you received last year, your other income and whether it has ended: see how much the IMV changes depending on whether it counts.
Estimated minimum income
€609 a month
ended assistance does not count
| Income that counts | €1,500 |
| Guaranteed income | €734 |
| If the assistance counted | €209 |
Only non-contributory assistance that has ended by the application date is left out (art. 20.1.f). Contributory unemployment benefit received does count as income for the year.
Prepared by Radif Partners · Method · Rules read in the BOE and on the Social Security site on 1 November 2026
People whose unemployment benefit runs out often turn to Spain’s minimum living income, and the law has a rule for that moment. As a general rule, all of the previous year’s income counts, unemployment benefits included. But non-contributory unemployment assistance, the subsidio paid when contributory benefit ends or when you did not contribute long enough, is ignored if it has already ended by the date you claim the IMV. Contributory unemployment benefit, by contrast, does count as income for the year it was paid. The difference can be large: a mother with one child who received €4,800 of assistance and €1,500 of other income in 2025 would get €429 of IMV if the assistance counted, and €829 with the ended assistance left out. If what ran out was contributory benefit paid this year, the route is sudden hardship, which from 1 April leaves out any benefit or assistance that has ended. And anyone on the over-52 assistance while claiming the IMV will see it deducted as if it were a pension.
Which benefit counts and which does not
Article 20 of Law 19/2021 counts any pension or benefit as income, then lists the exceptions. The fifth is non-contributory unemployment assistance when it has ended by the claim date. The logic is that the money is no longer coming into the home: counting 2025 assistance to refuse the IMV in 2026 would leave someone who has just run out with nothing. Contributory benefit is not on the list, so it counts like any other income for the year.
The tool compares both calculations. In the summary’s example, with €1,500 of other income and €4,800 of assistance, the difference between counting the assistance or not is €400 a month, more than €4,800 a year.
Your IMV with or without the assistance
Estimated minimum income
€609 a month
| Income that counts | €1,500 |
| Guaranteed income | €734 |
| If the assistance counted | €209 |
If your benefit ran out this year
The general rule looks at the previous year, and if you received contributory benefit then, that money counts. For anyone left with nothing mid-year there is sudden hardship: from 1 April you can claim the IMV on the current year’s income, and in that sum no unemployment benefit or assistance counts, including the active integration income and the self-employed cessation benefit, as long as they ended through running out, waiver or excess income. It must be shown, and the INSS checks it with employment service data.
The over-52 assistance
This is a separate case. Article 13.6 treats it like a pension: if you are receiving it on the claim date or it is awarded before the decision, the IMV cannot exceed the guaranteed income minus its monthly amount, even if you had no income the year before. The same happens with pensions; the page on the IMV alongside a pension explains the sum. And if you go back to work, the employment incentive shields part of your pay at the review.