The Compensation Fund for Asbestos Victims celebrates this Friday its first year of operation with a majority of requests that have not resulted in compensation. The National Institute of Social Security (INSS) has received 474 requests and has rejected or inadmitted 344, 72% of the total, while 106 have ended with recognized and paid compensation. The granted aids total 6,344,794 euros, an amount that represents approximately a quarter of the 25 million euros planned for the fund.
The main reason pointed out by the affected associations is the requirement to prove a permanent disability derived from a professional illness related to asbestos. According to the data from the first year, 302 of the 474 requests were inadmitted for not meeting this requirement.
The regulation establishes that the INSS is the body responsible for instructing and resolving the requests. Before requesting compensation, the affected must also obtain a certificate of the pathologies derived from asbestos exposure issued by the corresponding health administration.
Royal Decree 483/2025 establishes a maximum period of six months for the INSS to issue and notify the resolution from the entry of the request in its registry. If that period passes without an express resolution, the request is understood to be dismissed, although the Administration maintains the obligation to issue a resolution.
Four diseases recognized by the regulation
The regulation sets the compensations based on four pathologies: mesothelioma, lung cancer, laryngeal cancer, and asbestosis. The amount is calculated using the absolute permanent disability pension for professional illness as a reference and applying different multipliers according to the disease.
The compensation reaches three times that reference in cases of mesothelioma, twice in lung cancer, one and a half times in laryngeal cancer, and the equivalent to the reference for asbestosis. The Government initially estimated the compensations in a range between 32,000 and 96,000 euros.
The law that created the fund contemplates as its objective the repair of the damages and harms to health derived from exposure to asbestos both in the workplace and in the domestic or environmental sphere. It also allows the heirs of the victims to access compensation in the cases provided for by the regulation.
The victims demand to expand access
The associations of affected individuals consider that the regulatory development has restricted the scope of the law. Among their demands is to expand the included pathologies and eliminate certain access conditions that, in their opinion, exclude people who suffered exposure to asbestos but do not have prior recognition of a permanent disability due to occupational illness.
Congress has already debated modifications to the fund. A non-legislative proposal approved in 2025 raised, among other issues, the expansion of the contemplated pathologies and the review of some of the established requirements to access the compensations.
In 2026, parliamentary initiatives have also been registered to modify the tax treatment of these compensations. An amendment presented in Congress proposes to declare them exempt from personal income tax to prevent the receipt of compensation from increasing the taxation of the beneficiaries in the year they receive the payment.
The first year of operation thus leaves a fund with 474 processed applications, 106 compensations paid, and 344 files without recognized compensation. The evolution of the claims and parliamentary initiatives will determine whether the system maintains these criteria or ends up incorporating changes in the access requirements.