I understand contribution payments etc and TIE sorted but my questions are if you are self employed and paying in what happens if you become sick, have an accident or (hopefully not) need unemployment benefit?

After so many years self employed do Autonomo qualify for a pension in Spain?

The first step is to go to your doctor and request a ‘baja’. If they feel it’s justified they will give you an official sick leave form.
Inform your Mutua or Mutual Society, which covers you in these types of events. Fill out the form linked in the second link below. What you get depends on a lot of things read the first two links below.
Sick pay details. https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp...4792&langId=en
https://www.seg-social.es/wps/portal...ngeLanguage=en


Pension is the same as an employed person. The Spanish government website. https://administracion.gob.es/pag_Ho...o-general.html

Yes you get sick benefit but unemployment benefit is a difficult thing as was discovered during covid where employees automatically got benefits but automino didn't. Yes you get a Spanish pension but only after 15 years and the amount is dependent on how much you earn etc. In fact automino is not a great thing if you undertake it in your 50s ( and haven't worked before in spain) as you would need to work longer and make good money to just get a minumum pension plus if you stop working you don't get any benefits. The only positive is that it provides healthcare for you and your dependents so that might offset some of the cost but considering if there were 2 of you the convenio for healthcare would be around 140 euros a month compared to nearly 300 euros for automino after the end of first year discounts. Automino is only for those who possibly can earn around 20.000 a year and have at least 15 years of work in front of them. For anyone else a part time job on minimum wage is better.

If you have worked elsewhere in the EU and that includes the UK, you go to the INSS office in the country you last worked. They liaise with each and every country you worked in. Assuming you meet certain minimum criteria under eU rules you qualify for pensions.

Here is an example.

22 years in UK

1 year Germany

12 years in Spain.

Without the EU legislation you would only get your UK pension.

Do take into account different retirement ages and do not apply separately and do get your application in o Spanish INSS early. They do not back date or increase your pension if you are late

Great, thanks for your help