Prior claim or appeal against a decision of the SEPE, the INSS or a regional body (Spain)
€1.38Fill it in online free — pay only to download
17 questions · about 7 min
This document is in Spanish
The PDF you download is in Spanish — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
Fill out the form
Your answers stay on this device for 7 days, or until you clear them.
- Instant download after payment
- Backup link emailed to you
- No account needed
Filing this is free on the websites of Spain's Social Security and of the SEPE; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish written appeal, in Spanish, is for someone in Spain who has received a decision refusing, reducing, suspending or reclaiming a benefit (unemployment benefit or allowance, incapacity, the minimum income, a regional benefit) and wants to challenge it on paper. Depending on what the decision states, it is the prior claim under Article 71 of Spanish Law 36/2011 or an administrative appeal under Law 39/2015; you set out your grounds and enclose the evidence. File it at any public registry office or a post office within the decision's deadline.
- Made for use in Spain
- Last updated October 20, 2026
Published byDocMuse
When to use this document
- The SEPE in Spain has refused your unemployment allowance and you want to challenge the decision.
- The INSS is asking you to pay back benefit you already received and you disagree.
- Your benefit was cut or stopped and the letter says you can lodge a prior claim.
- You want to appeal on paper against a benefit decision before the deadline runs out.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Applicant
- Applicant's DNI or NIE (Spanish identity number)
- Spanish social security number (NUSS)
- Applicant's address
- Contact phone or e-mail (optional)
- Date the decision was served on you
- Body that issued the decision (e.g. SEPE, INSS, a regional department)
- Date of the decision
- Case number
- Benefit or matter the decision concerns
- What the decision does
- Why you disagree (facts and documents)
- Remedy the decision names
- Attachments
- City
- Date
- Body addressed (as named in the decision)
Common questions
- In Spain, when is it a prior claim and when an administrative appeal (alzada)?
- Against decisions of the INSS, the SEPE and the other managing bodies on social security and unemployment benefits, before going to the social section of the court of first instance, you file the prior claim under Article 71 of Spanish Law 36/2011, within the general period of thirty days of notification (shorter in some cases, such as a medical discharge from sick leave, the alta médica). Against other administrative decisions, such as many of the regional social services, an alzada or reposición appeal under Law 39/2015 applies. Always choose the remedy and deadline stated at the foot of the decision.
- What happens if a Spanish benefits body does not answer the prior claim?
- The managing body must decide within forty-five days; otherwise the claim is deemed refused by silence (Article 71 of Spanish Law 36/2011). From notice of the refusal, or from the moment of silence, the thirty days to bring a claim before the social section of the court of first instance begin. An alzada appeal must be decided within three months (Article 122 of Law 39/2015).
- Can I file the prior claim free of charge online in Spain?
- Yes. It is free on the Social Security website (the «Reclamación previa» service, also on its platform for procedures without a digital certificate) and on the SEPE's, or at their offices. You do not need DocMuse for it. This document is for filing on paper at a registry office or a post office, with a stamped copy. Before a regional body in Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Galicia, the Basque Country or Navarre you may also write in the co-official language.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
Related documents
- Administrative appeal (alzada or reposición) against a decision (Spain)
You can file the appeal free of charge on the body's electronic office, with its own appeal form or general application form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for challenging an act of a Spanish ministry, regional government or town hall: the recurso de alzada to the higher body, if the act does not end the administrative route, or the recurso de reposición to the same body, if it does. The notification says which applies, to whom and the time limit: one month for an express act. It follows art. 115 of Spanish Law 39/2015; you write the grounds. Not for taxes or traffic fines. File it through a registry.
- Claim to the Transparency Council over refused information (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the electronic office of Spain's Transparency and Good Governance Council, with its own form, or with your region's transparency body; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for people who prefer to file through a registry: it challenges the full or partial refusal of a request for public information, or the lack of any answer, on your own grounds, within the month set by art. 24.2 of Spanish Law 19/2013. The Council has three months to decide.
- Request for access to public information (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the Spanish State's Transparency Portal and on each body's electronic office, with their own form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is for people who prefer to file through a registry: it asks a ministry, a regional government, a town hall or another public body for information it holds, under Spanish Law 19/2013 on transparency or the region's transparency law, without having to say why. The body has one month to decide.
- Personal invitation letter and accommodation undertaking (Spain)
The official invitation letter (carta de invitación) is applied for in person by the host at the police station where they live, paying the fee on form 790 code 012 (Spanish Order PRE/1283/2007); DocMuse does not sell it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, only accompanies it: the host's personal letter to the Spanish embassy or consulate, with the relationship, purpose and dates of the visit, the home and the costs the host covers. It does not replace the official letter. Sign it and send it to the guest, who files it with the visa application.
- General application to a public body (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the electronic office and at the counters of each Spanish public body, with its own general application form (instancia general); you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is an application with the content article 66 of Spanish Law 39/2015 asks for — your details, how to notify you, facts, request, place, date, signature and the body addressed — for any request to a ministry, a regional government or a town hall that has no form of its own. File it through a registry or at a post office as administrative mail.
- Letter of complaint to a public body (Spain)
This can be done free of charge on the body's electronic office or at its counters, with its own complaints and suggestions form; you do not need DocMuse for it. This Spanish document, in Spanish, is the complaint about how a public service works — waiting times, treatment, unanswered letters, mistakes — sent to the body itself: it sets out the facts with dates and the office, and asks to be told what is done. In the Spanish State administration the unit answers within twenty working days. File it through a registry or at a post office.