Autónomo Insurance in Spain: The Four-Policy Package

Q: What is the difference between public liability and professional indemnity?

Public liability (RC de explotación) covers physical harm — injury to someone or damage to their property caused by your activity. Professional indemnity (RC profesional) covers financial loss caused by your advice, design or professional service, with no physical damage involved. A plumber who floods a flat needs the first. A consultant whose advice costs a client money needs the second. Many autónomos who both advise and do need both, and they are commonly combined on one policy.

Q: I have just taken on my first employee. What changes?

Two things get added. Employers' liability (RC patronal) goes onto the business policy — check the per-victim sub-limit, not only the headline figure, because that cap is what serious injury awards test. And most collective agreements oblige a separate accident and death benefit policy for staff, which no liability policy satisfies; see our convenio (CLA) insurance page. Prevention duties under Ley 31/1995 remain yours regardless of what you insure.

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Self-employed in Spain? Four policies do almost all the work — public liability, professional indemnity, income protection and private health. Here is which of them you actually need, what each costs, and how they fit together.

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💼 This is a hub page. Each of the four policies has its own detailed page — public liability, professional indemnity, income protection and private health. This page is the map that shows how they connect.

Quick Answer — Autónomo Insurance in Spain (Turner Insurance)

Legally required?None generally — some sectors, yes

Public liability€80–€400 / year

Professional indemnityFrom around €350 / year

Income protectionFrom around €40 / month

Private healthFrom around €30 / month

Answered by Turner Insurance Specialists — exclusive Generali agents in Spain since 2007, based in Javea (Alicante). Talk to a real adviser in English: 966 461 625.

Spanish Insurance Law: What an Autónomo Must Hold — Key Facts & Limits

Almost nothing is compulsory for the self-employed in Spain as a general rule — and quite a lot is compulsory for specific activities. Here is how to tell which side of that line you are on.

The general rule: no general rule

There is no blanket legal obligation on autónomos to carry any private insurance. Registering with RETA and paying your monthly contribution is the obligation; buying cover is not. What creates the obligation, where one exists, is your activity, your licence or your contracts. Spain keeps an official searchable list of every compulsory insurance line — the Registro de Seguros Obligatorios, run by the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros. If you want a definitive answer for your activity, that register is where it lives, and we are happy to check it with you.

Where it genuinely is compulsory

Healthcare professionals — doctors, dentists, physiotherapists and private clinics must insure their professional liability under Ley 44/2003.
Regulated professions and professional companies — firms formed to practise a regulated profession must insure under Ley 2/2007, and individual colegios impose cover through their own rules.
Insurance distributors — statutory professional liability with seven-figure minimums. We hold ours: DGS C0467B54657010.
Licensed premises and events — bars, restaurants and venues, where regional rules scale the minimum with capacity. See bar & restaurant insurance.
Tourist rentals, hunting, dangerous-breed dogs and a long list of other specific activities.

Where it is required without being compulsory

This is where most autónomos actually meet the requirement. Landlords ask for a liability certificate before handing over commercial keys. Main contractors ask before letting a subcontractor on site. Corporate clients — particularly British, Irish and American ones — write professional indemnity of €300,000 to €2 million into supplier terms. Public tenders list it in the paperwork. None of it is statute, and all of it is binding.

Why the autónomo structure raises the stakes

Under Article 1902 of the Código Civil, whoever causes damage to another through fault or negligence must repair it — with no cap. A company confines most claims to the company's assets. An autónomo does not: you answer with your present and future personal assets. That single structural fact is why liability cover, which is the cheapest of the four policies here, is usually the first one to buy.

The Four Policies

Insurance for the self-employed in Spain sorts neatly into two pairs. Two policies protect other people from you — and are usually the ones your clients demand. Two protect you and your household — and are the ones nobody demands, which is why they are the ones most often missing.

Protecting others — usually contractually required

Public liability (RC de explotación) — injury or property damage you cause while working. The certificate landlords, clients and main contractors ask for. Roughly €80–€400 a year for most autónomos.
Professional indemnity (RC profesional) — financial loss caused by your advice, design or professional service. Compulsory for regulated professions, contractually required for most consultants. From around €350 a year.

Protecting you — nobody will ask, and nobody else will pay

Income protection / incapacity cover — a monthly benefit when illness or injury stops you working, filling the gap the state leaves. From around €40 a month. See also self-employed incapacity cover.
Private health insurance — fast access to diagnosis and treatment, which for a self-employed person is directly an income question rather than only a comfort one. From around €30 a month.

Which Do I Actually Need?

Policy	You need it if	Typical cost
Public liability	You work on other people's property, receive clients, or anyone has asked you for a certificate. Effectively every trade and premises-based business.	€80–€400/yr
Professional indemnity	You are paid for advice, design, specification or a professional service — or your profession is regulated, in which case it is compulsory.	from €350/yr
Income protection	Your household depends on your earnings and you contribute on or near the minimum base — which is most autónomos. Highest priority for manual trades.	from €40/mo
Private health	Waiting for a diagnosis costs you income, or you want treatment in English. Premiums for you and your family are partly tax deductible — see below.	from €30/mo

Two more sit just outside the core four and matter for particular situations: term life insurance if anyone depends on your income after death, and convenio colectivo cover the day you take on your first employee, because most collective agreements oblige an accident and death benefit policy for staff that no liability policy satisfies.

The RETA Gap: What the State Actually Pays

The reason income protection ranks so highly for an autónomo is arithmetic rather than pessimism. State sickness benefit (incapacidad temporal) is calculated from your contribution base, not from what you actually earn. A large proportion of self-employed people in Spain contribute on or close to the minimum base, so the benefit that arrives is a proportion of a small number rather than a proportion of their real income.

Temporary incapacity pays a percentage of the contribution base after a waiting period — useful, but rarely close to replacing a working income.
Cese de actividad — the self-employed equivalent of unemployment benefit — requires specific qualifying conditions and a contribution history, and is time-limited.
Permanent incapacity is the larger risk and the one most often ignored, because a permanent state pension calculated on a minimum base is a very different figure from your current earnings.
Your business costs do not pause. Quota, rent, leases and the RETA contribution itself continue while you are not billing.

Private income protection is bought to sit on top of the state benefit, not to replace it — you choose the monthly sum and the waiting period, and the two add together. Our income protection for the self-employed page works through the numbers in detail, and self-employed incapacity cover sets out the Generali product and its cover variants.

By Trade — Where to Start

Trades — electrician, plumber, builder, gardener, pool technician. Liability first, income protection a very close second, because your hands are the business. Tools need their own section, and they are not covered by your van policy. See tradesman & builder insurance.
Consultants, IT, design, translation, marketing. Professional indemnity first — corporate clients will ask — then health, then a small liability policy if you ever visit client premises. See professional indemnity.
Hospitality — bar, café, restaurant. The licence dictates the liability limit before you choose anything, and the premises policy follows. See bar & restaurant insurance.
Retail. Premises, stock and liability as one combined policy; the lease usually sets the liability minimum. See shop & retail insurance.
Salons, therapists, trainers. Treatment liability is the distinguishing cover, and the declared treatment list is what the policy actually insures. See salon & gym insurance.
Regulated professions — architect, lawyer, doctor, engineer. Professional indemnity is compulsory and your colegio sets the minimum. Start there. See professional indemnity.
Company directors. If you have incorporated rather than trading as an autónomo, personal liability as a director is a separate exposure — see directors & officers liability.

What Is Tax Deductible

Deductibility is one of the reasons the package is cheaper than it looks, and the rules differ by policy type. In outline, for an autónomo filing under IRPF:

Business policies are deductible business expenses. Public liability, professional indemnity and the premises, stock and equipment cover for your business premises are ordinary deductible costs of the activity, provided the policy is in the name of the business activity.
Private health insurance has its own specific allowance. An autónomo may deduct health insurance premiums for themselves, their spouse and children under 25 living with them, up to €500 per person per year — rising to €1,500 per person where that person has a disability.
Income protection and life premiums for yourself are generally personal, not business, expenses, and are treated differently again if you contribute to a professional mutualidad instead of RETA.

Rates, ceilings and the treatment of specific policies change, and the right answer depends on how your activity is structured. Confirm your own position with your gestor or asesor fiscal before relying on it — we arrange the cover, we do not give tax advice. Once you take on staff, the same logic extends to their cover: see collective health insurance for Spanish companies.

How to Get a Quote

Call or email us — ring 966 461 625 or email info@turnerinsurance.es. Our English-speaking team is available Monday to Friday, 09:30–15:00.
Tell us what you do — your activity and epígrafe, roughly what you turn over, whether you work at clients' premises, whether anyone has asked you for a certificate, and whether you employ or subcontract.
We tell you what is actually required — we check your activity against the compulsory-insurance register and against what your clients and contracts demand, then set out the cover levels as authorised Generali agents. No pressure, no obligation.
Build the package in stages if you prefer — most autónomos start with liability and add the rest at their own pace. We are happy to set it up that way and diarise the rest.

📰 The four policies, and the pages behind them

⚖️ Public Liability 💼 Professional Indemnity 💵 Income Protection 🏥 Health Insurance 🪛 Incapacity Cover 💐 Term Life 🔨 Tradesman & Builder 🍳 Bar & Restaurant 🛍️ Shop & Retail 💄 Salon & Gym 📋 Convenio CLA 📞 Get a quote

Approximate Autónomo Insurance Pricing

Indicative starting points for the self-employed in Spain, built up in stages:

Essentials

from €80/yr

Public liability only
Certificate for clients and landlords
Legal defence included
Office and low-risk activities
The first policy most people buy

Frequently Asked Questions — Autónomo Insurance in Spain

The questions we are asked most by British, Irish and other international self-employed people registered in Spain.

Not as a general rule. Registering with RETA and paying your contribution is the legal obligation; private insurance is not. Specific activities are different — healthcare professionals, regulated professions and professional companies, insurance distributors, licensed premises, tourist rentals, hunting and dangerous-breed dogs among others. Spain keeps a searchable register of every compulsory line, and we will check your activity against it.

For almost everyone, public liability — it is the cheapest of the four, it is what clients, landlords and main contractors actually ask for, and without it Article 1902 of the Código Civil leaves you personally liable with your own assets rather than a company's. If you are paid for advice rather than for physical work, professional indemnity usually comes first instead, because that is what your contracts will specify.

Public liability (RC de explotación) covers physical harm — injury to someone or damage to their property caused by your activity. Professional indemnity (RC profesional) covers financial loss caused by your advice, design or professional service, with no physical damage involved. A plumber who floods a flat needs the first. A consultant whose advice costs a client money needs the second. Many autónomos who both advise and do need both, and they are commonly combined on one policy.

Office and clerical work typically runs from around €80–€150 a year. Most autónomos pay somewhere between €120 and €400 depending on activity and turnover. Manual trades — electricians, builders, plumbers — commonly pay €300–€600, more where machinery or work at height is involved. It is usually the cheapest serious protection a self-employed person buys.

Something, but it is calculated on your contribution base rather than your real income, and most autónomos contribute on or near the minimum base. Temporary incapacity pays a percentage of that base after a waiting period; cese de actividad has its own qualifying conditions and is time-limited; permanent incapacity is calculated the same way. Meanwhile your quota, rent and leases carry on. Private income protection is bought to sit on top of the state benefit rather than to replace it.

Business policies — public liability, professional indemnity, and premises, stock and equipment cover — are ordinary deductible expenses of the activity when held in the business name. Private health insurance has its own specific allowance: an autónomo may deduct premiums for themselves, their spouse and children under 25 living with them, up to €500 per person per year, or €1,500 per person where that person has a disability. Income protection and life premiums for yourself are generally treated as personal rather than business expenses. Confirm your own position with your gestor — we arrange cover, we do not give tax advice.

Paying RETA gives you access to the Spanish public health system, which is good. Private cover buys speed and language: quicker diagnosis and treatment, direct access to specialists, and consultations in English. For an employed person that is a comfort question; for a self-employed person, waiting is directly a loss of income, which is why the two are usually bought together. See our health insurance in Spain page.

Yes, and it is usually a standard supplier term rather than a judgement about you. €300,000 to €600,000 is common for small domestic work, €1 million is the usual corporate and main-contractor ask, and larger tenders sometimes specify €2 million or more. The cost difference between limits is far smaller than most people expect, so it is normally worth setting the limit at the level your best clients require rather than the level your smallest one accepts.

Two things get added. Employers' liability (RC patronal) goes onto the business policy — check the per-victim sub-limit, not only the headline figure, because that cap is what serious injury awards test. And most collective agreements oblige a separate accident and death benefit policy for staff, which no liability policy satisfies; see our convenio (CLA) insurance page. Prevention duties under Ley 31/1995 remain yours regardless of what you insure.

Not for the business side of it. A standard home policy covers domestic occupancy; business equipment, business stock and liability to clients visiting your home are usually excluded or capped. If you see clients at home, or hold stock or professional equipment there, declare the activity — either as an extension to the home policy or on a small business policy. Undeclared commercial use is a common reason for a declined claim.

Mostly, with one addition and one change of emphasis. The liability and professional indemnity needs are the same and are simply held in the company name. The company structure limits most claims to company assets rather than your own — which is a genuine advantage — but it creates a new personal exposure as a director. See directors & officers liability in Spain.

Yes, and most people do. A common order is liability first because clients ask for it, then income protection, then health, then professional indemnity when a contract requires it. We are happy to set it up in stages and diarise the rest so it does not get forgotten — and we review the whole set at renewal so the cover keeps pace with what the business has become.

More questions? Contact us for free English-speaking advice — or call 966 461 625.

Sources & References

This page references the following official Spanish regulatory and legal sources. These are the authoritative bodies and laws governing insurance products in Spain:

Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones (DGS) — Spanish insurance regulator. Confirms registration of insurance intermediaries (Andrew Turner: Registry C0467B54657010) and authorises all insurance products distributed in Spain.
Registro de Seguros Obligatorios — the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros register of every compulsory insurance line in Spain, searchable by activity.
Código Civil, Article 1902 (BOE) — the general rule of civil liability: whoever causes damage to another by fault or negligence must repair it.
Ley 44/2003 de ordenación de las profesiones sanitarias (BOE) — compulsory professional liability cover for healthcare professionals.
Ley 2/2007 de Sociedades Profesionales (BOE) — compulsory professional liability cover for professional companies.
Ley 50/1980 — Ley de Contrato de Seguro (BOE) — Spanish Insurance Contract Law, governing disclosure, claims and renewal rights.

Tax treatment described on this page reflects the general IRPF position for autónomos and can change. It is general information, not tax advice — confirm your own position with your gestor or asesor fiscal.

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