Subsidised training for law firms: how to use the FUNDAE credit without losing it to a formality

Every firm with employees pays a monthly vocational training contribution, and that contribution generates an annual credit for training its staff, recoverable through discounts on Social Security payments. The reality of the sector is that many small and mid-sized firms never use it, not for lack of training needs but because they do not know the procedure. This guide sums up how it works and where applications usually fail.

Where the credit comes from and how much it is

The programmed training credit is calculated by multiplying the previous year's average headcount by the per-worker amount set each year in the regulations, with a minimum for the smallest companies (which lets a firm of one to five workers access a credit even if its actual contribution was lower). Each company's exact figure appears in the FUNDAE online application after registration, and it expires if not used within the calendar year: it does not roll over.

The first practical step, therefore, is to know the figure before planning. Training beyond the credit is possible, but the excess comes out of pocket.

What training can be subsidised

The training must be related to the company's activity or to general competences useful for the job, and it must be delivered by an accredited provider or by the company itself with its own means if it meets the requirements. For a law firm, eligible options include courses on new statutes and reforms, legal languages, technology and AI tools applied to legal work, management and leadership skills, and occupational risk prevention.

What cannot be subsidised is training made mandatory by law or training unrelated to the activity. And a practical caveat: bar admission master's degrees are not subsidisable as such, although certain postgraduate modules or courses can fit if structured as continuing education.

The procedure, in four steps

First, organisation: notifying the training to the workers' legal representation if the workforce exceeds the threshold that requires it. Second, start notification in the FUNDAE application before the course begins, with the group details, participants, cost and provider. Third, delivery with attendance control (in person or online, depending on the modality): the rules require a minimum connection or attendance rate per participant for the cost to be eligible. Fourth, completion notification and application of the discount in that year's contribution statements.

Deadlines are strict: a late start notification voids the subsidy for that group, and it is the most frequent error in small-company files.

The failures that cost the subsidy

Besides late notification, applications usually fail in three ways: participants who do not reach the minimum attendance rate, allocated costs that are not properly documented (invoices without breakdowns, hours without records) and forgotten co-financing: above a certain headcount, the company must contribute a percentage of the cost from its own pocket, and failing to do so invalidates the operation.

If the firm does not want to manage it

Organising entities and training schools themselves usually offer full FUNDAE file management included or discounted in the course price. For a firm without administrative staff, it is the sensible route: the management cost pays for itself with the first executed subsidy.

On the specific catalogue available this quarter, see our selection of autumn courses for lawyers, the guide to microcredentials versus master's degrees and the analysis of legal language certifications.