FUNDAE-Subsidised AI Training: Complete Guide for Companies in Spain 2026

If you run a company in Spain, there is something you probably do not know: every January, a training credit is renewed in your name. It is money you have already paid through Social Security contributions. And if you do not use it before December, you lose it. No warning. No compensation. It simply disappears.

The figure that surprises most people: over 80% of Spanish SMEs let their FUNDAE credit expire every year. They are throwing away money that is already theirs.

Now combine that with another reality: from August 2026, Article 4 of the EU AI Act requires that every person working with AI systems has an adequate level of AI literacy. This is not a recommendation. It is a legal obligation.

You have credit you will lose if you do not use it. You have a legal obligation to meet. The solution is obvious: use your FUNDAE credit to train your team in AI. Here is exactly how to do it.

What is FUNDAE and how it works

FUNDAE (State Foundation for Employment Training) manages Spain's subsidised training system. The idea is straightforward: every company contributes to Social Security for vocational training. That money generates an annual credit the company can recover by subsidising training for its employees.

In other words: this is not a grant you have to apply for. It is your own money that you have already paid. All you need to do is use it correctly following the established procedure.

The mechanism works like this: you arrange a course for your employees, notify FUNDAE before it starts, deliver the training, then deduct the cost from your Social Security contributions. It is a direct bonus on social charges. No waiting for approvals, no tenders, no draws.

Any company that contributes for vocational training is entitled to this credit. It does not matter whether you have 3 employees or 300. The credit is there waiting for you to use it.

Your training credit: how much you have

The amount depends on your company's size and what you contributed the previous year. But there is a key figure many people do not know: companies with 1 to 5 employees have a minimum guaranteed credit of €420 per year, regardless of what they contribute.

Training credit by company size:

To give you an idea: a company with 20 employees and an average payroll can have between €1,500 and €3,000 in annual credit. Enough to train the entire team in artificial intelligence.

And I repeat: if you do not use it in the calendar year, it is gone. It does not accumulate. It does not roll over. It disappears on 31 December.

Why AI training now

There are three reasons why AI training cannot wait until 2027.

First: Article 4 of the EU AI Act. The European AI Regulation establishes in Article 4 that providers and deployers of AI systems must ensure their staff have a sufficient level of AI literacy. This obligation enters into force on 2 August 2026. That is less than five months away. If your employees use ChatGPT, Copilot, AI-powered analytics tools or any automated system, they need documented training. A YouTube tutorial does not count.

Second: the competitive advantage is now. Companies that train their teams in AI do not just comply with the law. They work more efficiently, automate processes, make better decisions. The difference between a company with AI-trained employees and one without is already visible in productivity, delivery speed and service quality. And that gap will only grow.

Third: the 2026 credit expires in December. If you do not act now, you will lose another year of free training. And in 2027, when an inspection asks about your AI training plan, you will have to explain why you did nothing when the money was available.

Eligible AI courses: what you can study

At Delbion we have designed five AI training courses specifically for businesses. All are eligible for FUNDAE subsidy and cover both fundamentals and practical implementation and regulatory compliance.

Our AI training catalogue:

The five courses can be combined. A company that wants to cover all bases can start with Secure AI Application for Business for the whole team, EU AI Act for management and compliance, and then scale with the more advanced courses for technical teams.

And all eligible for subsidy. Because the money is already yours.

How to claim your subsidy step by step

This is where many people get lost. The FUNDAE process has its paperwork, but it is not complicated if you know what you are doing. Here it is, step by step.

What we do at Delbion: we handle all the paperwork. We check your credit, prepare the documentation, submit notifications to FUNDAE, manage attendance records and tell you exactly how much and when to claim. Your only job is to make sure your employees attend the course.

We have been managing FUNDAE subsidies for years and know that the process, while not difficult, has pitfalls. A wrong data entry, a late notification or an incomplete attendance record can make you lose the subsidy. That is why we manage it ourselves.

Common mistakes when using FUNDAE credit

After managing dozens of subsidies, these are the mistakes I see repeated over and over again.

Not notifying on time. The start notification must be submitted 7 calendar days in advance. Not 7 working days: calendar days. If the course starts on Monday the 13th, you must notify before Monday the 6th. I have seen companies lose thousands of euros in subsidies by notifying one day late.

Not tracking attendance. FUNDAE requires rigorous attendance records. For in-person training: sign-in sheets with entry and exit times. For online: platform connection logs. If you cannot prove a participant attended, you cannot claim the subsidy for that person.

Exceeding available credit. You cannot claim more than you have. It seems obvious, but I have seen companies arrange training without checking their credit first, then discover they cannot recover the full cost.

Forgetting co-financing. For companies with 10 or more employees, FUNDAE requires private co-financing. The company must contribute a percentage of the training cost from its own resources (usually calculated as the working time employees spend in training). It is not a real additional cost, but it must be documented correctly.

Leaving training until December. Every year I see the same pattern: companies that remember FUNDAE in November and want to spend all their credit in four weeks. By then calendars are full, notification deadlines become complicated and everything is rushed. My advice: plan training in the first half of the year. More margin, more flexibility, better availability.

Not keeping documentation. FUNDAE can audit training actions for up to 4 years after they took place. You need to keep all documentation: course syllabus, attendance records, materials, invoices, notifications. Without it, they can reclaim the subsidy.

All these mistakes are avoidable. And we avoid all of them when we manage the subsidy from Delbion.

The summary is simple: you have money to train your team in AI, you have a legal obligation to do it before August and you have someone to handle all the paperwork. The only thing missing is your decision.