The self-employed workers of the Canary Islands can now apply for aid for the first permanent hiring of people aged 52 or over, as well as for access to financing with the aim of modernizing their businesses, after the publication in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands (BOC) of the calls for the ‘+uno52’ and ‘Interest Rate Rebate’ programs.
These are two new lines of aid that aim, on the one hand, to facilitate the first permanent hiring by self-employed workers and, on the other, access to financing to modernize their businesses, improving loan conditions.
The Vice President of the Government and Minister of Economy, Industry, Trade and Self-Employed, Manuel Domínguez, pointed out that with the publication of these two calls, the Self-Employed Support Plan presented last October is fully implemented, which also includes other aid for family reconciliation and support for temporary incapacity, which compensates for the payment of Social Security contributions during the first two months of leave due to common contingencies, as well as in cases of serious illness.
In relation to the +uno52 call, it is a new line of subsidies, aimed at promoting the incorporation of older people into the labor market, a group with special difficulties in finding employment, through the financing of the first permanent hiring made by self-employed workers.
The aid is 5,000 euros per full-time contract and can reach up to 6,000 euros in municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, provided that the employment is maintained for at least 12 months. This call is retroactive to October 18, 2025.
Lowering the cost of financing for the self-employed
The call for the partial rebate of the interest rate on loans linked to economic activity investments seeks to lower the cost of financing for projects aimed at modernizing businesses, renewing machinery, improving facilities, digitizing processes, or creating websites.
The purpose of this aid is to facilitate access to financing for self-employed workers, improving the conditions of loans intended to finance investments in tangible and intangible fixed assets. The bonus will be applied for a maximum period of three years from the formalization of the loan. The subsidy will be paid in a single installment and will be used for the partial early repayment of the loan principal.
This Respaldo Plan, which has also been awarded recently by the Association of Self-Employed Workers (ATA), is accompanied by other measures to alleviate fiscal and administrative pressure. Among them, the increase of the IGIC franchise up to 50,000 euros, to which self-employed workers who invoice up to 50,000 euros can now join; and the zero fee, a measure already consolidated since 2024 and whose first installment is already being paid. "Since we came to the Government in 2023, self-employed workers in the Canary Islands have grown by 9,000 people, which represents a rate of almost 240 new self-employed workers per month," assured Domínguez.