Extremadura allocates 5.4 million to supplement SEPE agricultural aid

The Governing Council of the Junta de Extremadura approved Decree 176/2026, of October 27, which establishes the regulatory bases and the first call for grants destined for local entities to complement the aid from the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) for the hiring of workers covered by the Agreement for Employment and Social Protection in Agriculture. The Official Gazette of Extremadura (DOE no. 218, of November 12, 2026, section I, General Provisions) publishes the regulation and its extract, with an allocation of 5,469,180 euros and identification number in the National Grants Database BDNS 940868.

Since the mid-80s, the Junta de Extremadura has been granting aid to city councils and entities with a territorial scope smaller than a municipality to acquire materials and auxiliary means for works and services of general and social interest in which unemployed workers from rural areas are employed. These grants are complementary to those granted by the SEPE under Order TES/1077/2023, of September 28, and replace the previous framework of Presidential Decree 4/2020, of June 16, which is hereby repealed.

Requirements and calculation of the aid

Extremaduran local entities that, in the year prior to the call, were beneficiaries of SEPE aid for the hiring of workers covered by the AEPSA may benefit, provided they are up to date with their tax obligations and with Social Security and do not incur any causes for exclusion.

The amount is not fixed in advance for each municipality:

• The available credit is divided by the total amount granted by the SEPE to the requesting entities in the previous financial year, which yields a fixed percentage.
• That percentage is applied to the grant awarded by the SEPE to each entity.
• The aid is paid in a single payment after the award resolution and is exempt from guarantees.
• In no case shall it exceed the budget for materials and auxiliary means approved by the SEPE.

The grants are compatible with other subsidies or income, provided that the sum does not exceed the cost of the materials and auxiliary means of the approved project.

Twenty business days to submit applications

The period opens the day following the publication of the call and its extract in the DOE and closes after twenty business days. Each entity must submit an application for each grant awarded by the SEPE, using the standardized form (Annex I) through the associated electronic office, accessible from the procedure file of the Junta de Extremadura. The documentation includes the SEPE award resolution, the project or valued report and its possible modification, which may be replaced by a responsible declaration.

The resolution is the responsibility of the head of the General Secretariat of the department competent in Local Administration and must be notified within a maximum period of three months from the date of submission; failure to notify allows it to be understood as dismissed by administrative silence. An administrative appeal (recurso de alzada) may be filed against it within one month. The justification must be submitted, at the latest, by March 1 of the year following the call for applications.

Administrative simplification and expenditure control

The decree introduces as its main novelties the standardization of the application period —compared to previous “instrumental” calls without a defined deadline—, the reduction of documentation, and the setting of a three-month period to resolve and notify, in coherence with Law 4/2022, of July 27, on administrative rationalization and simplification of Extremadura. The justification is now based on the verification carried out by the SEPE: if this body considers the aid to be correctly justified, the regional subsidy is also understood to be justified.

Repayment will be required, among other cases, when the entirety of the SEPE subsidy is lost before justification or when the execution of the approved project is less than 50% of the approved amount. AEPSA applications from 2025 submitted under Presidential Decree 4/2020 are admitted in the 2026 call.

The decree is signed by the vice president and counselor of Presidency, Coordination of Government Action, Interior and Emergencies, Abel Bautista Morán, and by the president of the Junta de Extremadura, María Guardiola Martín; the extract is signed by the general secretary, David González Gil, in Mérida on October 29, 2026. The regulation entered into force the day after its publication.

Impact on the rural environment

The measure directly affects rural Extremaduran municipalities and temporary field workers, who add regional support for materials and auxiliary means to the state hiring aid. The decree itself links this line to the objective of fixing the population in the rural environment and describes it as a measure by the Junta de Extremadura facing the demographic and territorial challenge, by improving the possibilities for labor insertion and the maintenance of employment in the local entities of the region.

Source: Official Gazette of Extremadura, no. 218, November 12, 2026, section I, General Provisions (official reference: 2026040226 and 2026040231).