The reduction of the working day to 35 hours per week in the General State Administration The AGE (General State Administration) reform is about to become a reality after several years of back-and-forth between the government and the most representative trade unions. The change, which will replace the current 37,5-hour workweek, has become central to the debate on public employment, work-life balance, and the organization of public services.
In recent weeks, the Ministry of Public Administration has accelerated technical meetings and formal negotiations with UGT, CCOO, CSIF and other unions with a presence in the General State Administration to finalize the remaining details. The objective of both parties is for the agreement to be ratified in the General Negotiation Table and that the new work schedule can begin to be applied effectively in a very short time, initially planned for around March and with the possibility of extending to April as the actual start date.
A long-awaited agreement for more than 200.000 public employees
The reduction in working hours will result in a decrease in 2,5 hours per week compared to the current scheduleThe working hours in the General State Administration will be reduced from 37,5 to 35 hours. This measure will directly affect more than 200.000 people. Public employees of the AGE, including staff from ministries, autonomous bodies, agencies and state public entities, and could have a ripple effect on many local administrations whose working hours are linked to those of the State.
The recovery of the 35 hours is conceived as a historic demand of the unions from the public sector, who have been demanding for years to reverse the increase in working hours imposed after the 2012 financial crisis. At that time, the working week in the public sector as a whole rose to 37,5 hours and, since then, different autonomous communities have been progressively recovering the 35 hours, while the AGE had fallen behind.
After several interruptions, the process was reactivated after a pause caused by the electoral calendar in Castile and LeónWhen the government opted to temporarily suspend talks to avoid the move being interpreted as an electioneering tactic, the Civil Service Department reconvened the unions for a series of meetings on March 23 and 25 to finalize the technical aspects of the agreement and then submit it to the General Negotiation Committee.
The technical meetings, in which representatives from the Ministry and organizations such as participate UGT, CCOO, CSIF, ELA and CIGThey have focused on tying up loose ends of the reform: defining included groups, handling special work schedules, adapting shifts and guaranteeing the maintenance of the quality of public service.
Who gets in and who gets out of the new day
The most delicate issue on the negotiating table has been determine the actual scope of the 35 hoursThat is, which personnel benefit and which groups are excluded. The government's initial proposals suggested excluding members of the Armed Forces, the State Security Forces and Corps, and those working in healthcare institutions and establishments or in educational and teaching support centers.
That initial configuration also included the exclusion of the prison workersThis point has generated a direct clash with the unions. Both UGT and CSIF have insisted that the reduction in working hours should be extended to prison staff, as well as to the healthcare and education sectors linked to the General State Administration, at least in territories under state jurisdiction, such as Ceuta and Melilla.
As the talks have progressed, the labor unions have gained ground. Several sources indicate that the final agreement will be reached. will eventually include prisons, health and education within the general 35-hour instruction, thus correcting the exclusions that were expressly included in the first drafts. CSIF has emphasized that its support for the text hinges precisely on this broadening of the scope of application.
Even so, some groups are expected to remain outside the new timetable. In principle, they will not be affected. the Armed Forces, the National Police, the Civil Guard, or the Administration of Justice, which are not part of the General State Administration in the strict sense or have their own specific working hours arrangements. In these cases, any change in working hours would have to be addressed in separate negotiation forums.
Another open front concerns the so-called bodies with “special days”These workers often work more than 37,5 hours per week, sometimes reaching 40 hours or more. The unions are demanding that the 35-hour reduction also apply to these groups, although in practice, its implementation will require a more complex reorganization of shifts and staffing.
Calendar, procedures and entry into force of the 35 hours
The design of the implementation schedule has also been a subject of debate. Initially, the Government had set itself the goal to finalize the agreement and approve it before the end of Marchwith an eye toward its almost immediate implementation. However, the unions themselves have acknowledged that the deadlines have been extended and that the actual implementation is now shifted towards April.
Once the General Negotiation Committee of the AGE endorses the text, it will be the Secretary of State for Public Function The body responsible for issuing instructions with detailed guidelines on working hours and schedules will replace the current regulations and establish a common framework for all departments of the General State Administration.
The implementation of the new working hours will not be automatic or uniform. Each ministry, agency, and entity will have to... negotiate in their own sphere The specific application of the program allows for adjustments to reduce working hours based on organizational and service needs. This includes, for example, adjusting shift schedules, morning and afternoon shifts, customer service hours, or services requiring continuous coverage.
According to what was conveyed in the technical meetings, the Civil Service will issue specific instructions to ensure that Citizens should not see their service diminished as a consequence of the reduced working hours. This implies planning for reinforcements where needed, reorganizing staff and, in some cases, promoting new job offers to compensate for the reduced individual availability.
The modification will be completed with the publication of the new regulations on working hours and schedules in the Official State Bulletin (BOE)Only from that moment on will the reduction to 35 hours have full legal validity in the General State Administration, although the fine adjustment of work schedules may be extended for a few more weeks depending on each area.
The role of trade unions: conditional support and red lines
The various trade union organizations have reached the final phase of negotiations with positions that are partly convergent and partly differentiatedThe UGT union insists that the 35-hour workweek must cease to be a voluntary improvement and become an enshrined right, applicable to all AGE (General State Administration) personnel without unjustified exception. The union also emphasizes that it will not accept setbacks in other aspects already agreed upon, such as flexible working hours or certain work-life balance measures.
CSIF, for its part, has focused on the need for the agreement to clearly include to the staff of Penitentiary Institutions, sanitary and educational which was initially excluded. The organization also demands progress in adapting the 35-hour workweek to those sectors with special 40-hour workweeks and a review of summer working hours where appropriate.
The Workers' Commissions (CCOO) have adopted a somewhat more cautious stance. The organization has indicated that, based on the initial drafts, I was not in a position to sign the agreement, primarily because the inclusion of prison, teaching and staff was not guaranteed health on the terms they deem essential. For CCOO, these groups constitute a red line, and they have warned that without them they will hardly endorse the final text.
The unions do agree, however, that the implementation of the new working day cannot entail cuts in the quality of public serviceThey reject the idea that the reduction in working hours should be compensated by a tightening of other conditions, by the elimination of work-life balance measures, or by an overload of work that ends up transferring the problem to the staff.
This union struggle ultimately reflects the complexity of applying a homogeneous working day model in a very diverse administrative structure, in which multiple labor regimes, essential services and staff with very different needs coexist.
Relationship with the Public Employment Offer and reinforcement of staff
The negotiations on the 35-hour workweek have gone hand in hand with other key talks on employment and modernization of the AdministrationAlongside the meetings focused on the day's events, the Executive has convened the unions to discuss the general outlines of the Public Employment Offer (OEP) of 2026 and the regulation of access for people with disabilities to the AGE.
Regarding employment, the Civil Service has indicated that the 2026 Public Employment Offer (OEP) will have a similar scope to that of 2025, when the creation of 26.889 placesHowever, the trade unions believe that this volume should be increased, especially in open access and internal promotion, to strengthen those services that they describe as "particularly deficient".
Both CSIF and UGT have pointed out the urgency of Increase staffing levels at the SEPE (State Public Employment Service), Social Security, immigration offices, the Directorate General of Traffic and Penitentiary Institutionswhere the workload and pressure from citizens are especially high. In some of these agencies, delays in appointments and administrative procedures have become chronic.
UGT has also drawn attention to job offers for contract staff of 2023, 2024 and 2025 that have still not been convenedThis represents thousands of pending new hires and internal promotions. In their view, this delay affects the quality of service and limits the professional development prospects of those already working within the civil service.
The unions emphasize that the design of the job offer must be done with the future in mind. new reality of the 35 hoursso that the reduction in working hours does not result in a decrease in the Administration's operational capacity. To this end, they are demanding the elimination or relaxation of the replacement rate and the streamlining of selection processes, avoiding delays that sometimes last for months or even years.
Disability, inclusion and other elements of modernization
Along with working hours and employment, the negotiating table also addresses the regulation of access and provision of jobs for people with disabilities in the General State Administration. The objective is to update and strengthen the regulatory framework to guarantee a more diverse, inclusive and accessible General State Administration.
The unions argue that, in addition to reserving a percentage of places, effective measures should be taken to ensure equal opportunities throughout the entire professional career: from selection processes to internal promotion, job adaptation and the daily exercise of labor rights.
In this context, the implementation of the 35-hour workweek is understood as part of a broader package of reforms aimed at modernizing the civil serviceIt is not just about reducing working hours, but about redesigning the internal organization to make it more efficient and compatible with the work-life balance needs of the staff and with the growing demands of the public.
Recent conversations also include discussions about partial retirements and replacementsFollowing the problems arising from the legal requirement that replacement workers have permanent contracts, the agreement reached with the unions opens the door to more flexible solutions that could resolve a situation that was creating a significant bottleneck in the partial retirement process within the public administration.
In short, the reduction to 35 hours is part of a broader negotiation framework that combines issues of working hours, employment, inclusion, stability and citizen services, all of which are key elements in shaping the Administration of the 21st century.
With the agreement on the 35-hour working day in the General State Administration With the agreement virtually finalized, the government and unions are entering the final stretch of negotiations that combine improved working conditions, reorganization of services, and a review of the public employment model. The inclusion of groups initially excluded, the need to reinforce staffing in overstretched areas, and the commitment to maintaining service quality mark a turning point for the Spanish civil service, in which working hours now occupy a central place on the reform agenda.
