Asturias implements mandatory performance evaluation and reforms the horizontal career path

The Governing Council of the Principality of Asturias approved Decree 71/2026, of October 13, which approves the Performance Evaluation Regulations and modifies Decree 37/2011, of May 11, which regulates the horizontal career path of regional civil servants. The regulation is published in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias (BOPA) no. 202, of October 19, 2026, in section I of General Provisions, with the official reference 2026-08511. It implements for the first time in the community a mandatory and general performance evaluation, which will enter into force on December 19, 2026, and whose first annual performance period will begin on January 1, 2027.

The provision develops Chapter II of Title VIII, articles 99 and 100, of the Principality of Asturias Law 2/2023, of March 15, on Public Employment, and utilizes the method already tested in the horizontal career path since 2011. According to the preamble, the evaluation that until now was included in the procedure for the recognition of personal categories “becomes mandatory and general in scope,” with consequences not only for the professional career, but also for the filling of job positions, training, and the receipt of complementary remuneration. The decree repeals articles 25 to 37 and 39 to 45, Title III, and Annex III of Decree 37/2011, and orders the publication of its consolidated text within six months.

The subjective scope covers the civil service and labor personnel listed in letters a), b), and c) of article 2.1 of the law. Excluded are the statutory personnel of the Health Service of the Principality of Asturias (SESPA), teaching civil service personnel, and those in bodies serving the Administration of Justice, unless they occupy positions within the civil service job list. Management personnel maintain their own regime, Decree 9/2024, of February 2. The decree was signed in Oviedo on October 13 by the President of the Principality, Adrián Barbón Rodríguez, and by the Councilor for Social Rights and Welfare, Nerea Monroy Rosal.

Annual evaluation with a minimum of 110 days of performance

The evaluation shall be mandatory, shall occur annually coinciding with the calendar year, and shall require a minimum effective performance equivalent to 30% of the annual working day, specified as 110 days. Periods of temporary disability due to common contingencies and unpaid leave shall not count for these purposes.

It is carried out by the immediate hierarchical superior, a function reserved for high-ranking officials with assigned personnel, general sub-directorates with dependent services or positions, service heads, and section heads. The evaluation interview and the report are prepared in the first quarter of the following year; the evaluatee has ten business days to file objections and the hierarchical superior has another ten to confirm or modify the report. If there are changes, five business days for objections are opened and ten for the final report. Refusing the interview deducts 1.5 points from the average score of the contextual and organizational performance area.

Three assessment areas and up to 30 points for the career

The system measures three areas: task performance, contextual and organizational performance, and collective objectives. The first two are scored on a gradual scale from 1 to 5, from “very insufficient level” to “excellent or superior level,” and three collective objectives—quantifiable and verifiable—are set, valued at 5 points each up to a maximum of 15.

The transfer to the horizontal career is materialized in two blocks:

• Up to 15 annual points for the task and contextual areas: 10 points for the task performance area, multiplying the obtained score by 2, and 5 for the contextual area.
• Up to 15 points for collective objectives, at a rate of 5 points for each objective met.

An excellent positive evaluation, which requires the maximum score in the three areas and specific motivation, may act as a qualified merit in the filling of positions, guide variable productivity, and provide priority in specialized training actions.

From the loss of the supplement to removal from the position

The first negative evaluation prevents the period from being counted toward category progression and mandates participation, during working hours, in a training and improvement project provided by the Asturian Institute of Public Administration “Adolfo Posada” (IAAP) within a maximum period of one year.

A second consecutive negative evaluation entails the revocation of provisional assignment and service commissions, removal from the position, termination from freely appointed positions, and loss of the career or productivity supplement. The third adds exclusion from the temporary employment pool or list for two years and the loss of the supplement provided for in article 104.4.b) of the law. Reversion occurs with a positive evaluation immediately following and has no retroactive effects.

Evaluation Commission and application calendar

The Performance Evaluation Commission is created, a collegiate body attached to the department competent in public employment and chaired by the Directorate General of that area. It is composed of the General Inspectorate of Services, a lawyer from the Legal Service of the Principality of Asturias, the personnel administration service, and the performance evaluation service, with a career civil servant serving as secretary.

The Directorate General shall annually publish disaggregated result statistics on the Transparency Portal, in addition to the collective objectives and their degree of fulfillment, and the final list of evaluation units shall be subject to publication. A transitional provision allows those who obtained their personnel category following a vertical internal promotion since January 1, 2021, to request a modification of said category, within a period of six months from the date of entry into force.

The impact extends to the entire regional workforce subject to the civil service and labor regimes: for the first time, individual and unit performance will have fixed legal consequences regarding career progression, supplementary pay, and tenure in the position, such that promotion no longer depends solely on seniority and now requires accredited positive evaluations.

Source: Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias (BOPA), no. 202, October 19, 2026, section I. General Provisions, pp. 1-24 (official reference: 2026-08511).