The Government activates a way to reduce the impact of refunds on those earning the minimum income.

One of the main problems affecting the Minimum Living Income (IMV) is the undue payments to beneficiaries that later become debts claimed by Social Security. The Ombudsman expressed concern about this situation , which affects vulnerable people with little savings capacity, in his annual report last year: he quantified the problem at €500 million, 4.7% of the total paid to all recipients until July 2024. The Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration says it shares the concern about this problem and has implemented a change that it hopes to alleviate it: the review of previous year's income has been communicated in May instead of October, which reduces potentially inflated payrolls by five months.

The spirit of the IMV (Minimum Income) is that of a guaranteed income . Depending on the characteristics of the household, the IMV law establishes that the minimum income for that household must be a certain amount. It is not a pension, with a fixed amount, but rather varies depending on various factors. For example, this year for an adult living alone, the minimum income is 659 euros per month, 856 for a household with one adult and one child, and 1,449 for two adults with three or more children, figures that were revalued above the CPI . The IMV is responsible for covering income up to these minimums, so that if the household receives other income, it is deducted from the IMV to which that household is entitled until it equals the corresponding floor, depending on the circumstances.

The problem? This income assessment isn't immediate. The Treasury had been providing data for the previous year in October of the current year. For example, the Treasury didn't provide income data for 2023 until October 2024. This means that over the course of nine months, the IMV beneficiary receives amounts that don't yet take into account the income from the previous year, only those from the previous year (in the example presented, those from 2022). This translates into an accumulated debt of nine paychecks if Social Security has overpaid.

Starting this year, that deadline has been cut in half, so Elma Saiz's department expects the outstanding payments to follow the same trend. Instead of waiting for the consolidated data for October, Social Security has informed beneficiaries with provisional data for May, according to sources from Saiz's ministry.

"IMV recipients have very few resources and almost no savings capacity. With this step, we have adapted to minimize the harm caused by these situations as much as possible. We believe this alleviates the suffering of these families and reduces the debt burden," emphasize sources from the ministry. The IMV has just celebrated its fifth anniversary , the first state-sponsored guaranteed minimum income.

In May 2025, the Ministry reported that it updated the payroll of 655,000 households. Half (317,000, or 49%) maintained the same payroll as the previous year, and 30% (200,000 households) had their amounts increased, as the review showed that their non-IMV income was lower than in the previous review. In contrast, 123,000 (or 19%) owed moderate amounts to Social Security, offsetting payroll-to-payroll reductions in benefits.

The main problem is the remaining 2% of households whose IMV (Mexican Social Security) was suspended due to a significant gap: 15,000 households by May 2025, according to Social Security figures. The ministry emphasizes that, while this is a situation that needs to be corrected, these households have earned sufficient income to no longer require IMV (Mexican Social Security) or to a much lower extent, which requires a review.

This is a different picture than that detected by the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIREF) for the previous year. In its fourth opinion on this benefit for vulnerable people, distributed this Wednesday, it notes a higher prevalence of income revisions (68% of households receiving benefits in 2024) than the ministry (49% in 2025).

According to these figures from Airef, with income data from 2023, 12% of households are being deregistered in the income review, with a median claim of €2,615. On the other side of the scale is the 24% who see their benefits increased by a median of €980. "Finally, for households where the review involves a downward change in their benefits, the median IMV (Mean Value Added Income) is reduced by €845," Airef concludes.

Recommendations

The use of provisional data to shorten deadlines was one of the Ombudsman's recommendations to alleviate this problem. The body, led by Ángel Gabilondo, recommended "the introduction of mechanisms through which the Administration can access provisional tax data."

It also proposed other solutions that are not currently being implemented, such as requiring "interested parties to file their personal income tax returns as early as possible, with the incentive of reducing the refundable amount," establishing a maximum period within which the National Social Security Institute must initiate the refund procedure, or suspending payment of the benefit in certain circumstances, "to avoid a potential disproportionate refund."

"The basic regulatory framework regarding the reimbursement of Social Security benefits must be reviewed as soon as possible along the lines outlined above. This requires a modification to Article 55 of the General Social Security Law," the Ombudsman stated, adding: "Individuals and families in need and at risk of social exclusion must find a space of genuine protection in the response of public authorities, without this jeopardizing the fair and effective management of public resources."

Airef also makes its own recommendations on how to address this problem. It suggests even greater agility, using the information available in the Administration on a monthly or quarterly basis. "For example, the contribution bases that are available with a two-month lag," indicates Cristina Herrero's agency. A better pace in this diagnosis, Airef believes, would improve the benefit's ability to be activated in situations of sudden poverty, reduce reimbursement requests due to improperly received amounts, and enhance the strength of the employment incentive by linking it to the most recent job offer decisions.

The Council of Europe recently announced that it will investigate this issue of the IMV, among others, following a complaint from ATD Fourth World International, an NGO working to eradicate extreme poverty. The complaint to the European Committee of Social Rights, which has been admitted , accuses Spanish regulations of violating the European Social Charter, precisely because they are regulated in such a way that they are unable to reach all those who need them.