The Government approved the new Strategy for Labour and Social Security Inspection on Tuesday for the years 2025-2027. The plan put forth by the Ministry led by Yolanda Díaz includes an enhancement of personnel, with the addition of over fifty public employees, as well as a stronger commitment to technological research into fraud and labour abuses, involving the establishment of a forensic computing laboratory.
“The roadmap set out by this strategy aims to transform the agency into a modern, efficient, and transparent entity,” emphasised the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Security, Yolanda Díaz.
The Ministry has reported that the agency plans to increase its workforce both in provincial inspections and central services by “adding 554 inspectors and subinspectors of Employment and Social Security, as well as Occupational Health and Safety subinspectors, during the next three years from 2025-2027.” This includes 150 positions from the latest Public Employment Offer (OPE) for 2025, according to ministry sources speaking to elDiario.es.
“These measures reflect the sustained budgetary reinforcement that the Ministry has been allocating to the agency in recent years,” stated the second Deputy Prime Minister.
New Forensic Computing Laboratory
The Ministry of Labour has announced that the new Inspection Strategy foresees the establishment of a forensic computing laboratory “specialising in obtaining digital evidence through the application of forensic computing techniques, which allow for the examination of computer systems,” and that “technical and administrative personnel will be reinforced.”
Additionally, the Ministry has noted that “new algorithmic rules will be established for fraud control through the Fraud Prevention Tool, and awareness campaigns derived from massive data cross-referencing will be enhanced.”
Currently, the Labour Inspectorate is utilising Big Data, or massive data cross-referencing, to detect alleged labour fraud, for instance in its campaigns addressing irregular hiring of temporary and fixed discontinuous workers and in actions regarding the payment of minimum wage to domestic workers, among others.
Ministry sources indicate that it is essential to continue delving into the use of technology, “including artificial intelligence,” to make the Labour Inspectorate more effective, particularly in response to new forms of work, such as remote work abroad. In terms of technological improvements, an investment of “€28.5 million” is foreseen.
The Strategy comprises “17 objectives grouped into two pillars.” On one hand, it defines priority action lines across 10 objectives “covering individual and collective labour relations, occupational health and safety, equality and non-discrimination, promotion and protection of employment, social security, and the fight against undeclared work,” among others. On the other hand, the second pillar identifies “structural, organisational, and operational measures.”
New Edition of the TándEM Programme
The Council of Ministers has also approved authorising the Public Employment Service (SEPE) to call for grants amounting to €13 million aimed at financing the TándEM employment and training programmes, along with the Promotion and Development Units that assist in their preparation, support, and evaluation.
The Experiential Employment and Training Programmes, known as TándEM, are mixed employment and training initiatives aimed at “improving the employability of unemployed individuals to facilitate their job placement.” In the 2024 call for applications, the Ministry reported the launch of 52 projects, “which enabled the hiring and occupational training of a total of 836 participants.”
