The Vice President of the Canary Islands Government and Minister of Economy, Industry, Trade, and Self-Employed, Manuel Domínguez, presented this week the Autonomous Support Plan, which includes measures to support this group, and explained that the first measures to be implemented are those of the Concilia Program, which establishes three lines of aid.
The first subsidizes the hiring of a person (1,100 euros per full month) for the replacement of the self-employed person in their business in cases of maternity, paternity, or high-risk pregnancy for up to 8 months.
The second offers aid of 7,500 euros, extendable to 9,000 euros for groups with difficulty integrating, to hire someone indefinitely to support the self-employed person in the care of children under 12 years of age or elderly people and/or people with disabilities or dependency. The contract must be maintained for at least 12 uninterrupted months. In both cases, it is not necessary for the hired person to be unemployed, and the aid will be paid in advance.
The third subsidizes up to 75% with a maximum of 3,000 euros of family care expenses, which include summer camps, daycares, nursery schools, extracurricular activities, or day centers.
The second program, called +uno 52, aims to encourage the first employment contract for people aged 52 or over. This measure is aimed at self-employed individuals who wish to hire for the first time. It provides aid of 5,000 euros per permanent full-time contract, and in the case of a self-employed individual residing in a municipality with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, the aid will amount to 6,000 euros. Furthermore, the contract must be maintained for 12 uninterrupted months, and payment will also be made in advance
With the aim of helping self-employed individuals finance their investments and improve their businesses, the Self-Employed Support Plan includes a program for interest rate subsidies of 2% annually for 3 years, which will be paid out in a single installment, to amortize capital on loans up to €500,000. This will apply to loans formalized in 2026 and guaranteed by Aval Canarias.
The last of the programs, support for temporary disability, seeks to support self-employed individuals, without employees under their charge, with the payment of social security contributions for the first two months of temporary disability due to common contingencies, and all self-employed individuals, with and without employees, in the case of serious illness. 100% of the contribution paid is covered up to a maximum of 700 euros in total. This aid can only be requested once during the subsidy period.
These measures are also added to others implemented by the Canary Islands Government, such as the zero fee, which removes startup barriers and supports entrepreneurship on all islands; the Observatory of Self-Employment, which reflects the demands and concerns of this group “in real time,” and the Directorate General of Self-Employed Workers