Concilia — the essentials
- Who: all self-employed people resident in the Canaries, any sector, any status
- What: three lines — cover (up to €8,800), permanent care hire (€7,500, up to €9,000 for priority groups), care costs (75%, max €3,000)
- Since when: applications from 21 May 2026, retroactive to 18 October 2025
- Award: in order of application, until the budget is exhausted
- Apply: sede.gobiernodecanarias.org (procedure 10923) · Questions: dirgral.autonomos@gobiernodecanarias.org
Anyone running a small shop on Gran Canaria, a hairdressing salon in Playa del Inglés or working from home as a web designer knows the problem: if you drop out because of a birth, illness or caring for a relative, the business does not run itself — and a stand-in costs money that is precisely then in short supply. This is exactly where a new grant from the Canary Islands government steps in, open for applications since 21 May.
The programme is called Concilia and is aimed at all self-employed people resident in the Canaries — regardless of sector or whether the business is new, established or growing. The grants are retroactive to 18 October 2025, and hiring a family member is also possible (Gobierno de Canarias).
What Concilia pays
The headline figure of €9,000 is not paid as a flat rate to everyone. The programme consists of three lines with staggered amounts. Concilia 1 funds a stand-in when the self-employed person is absent due to maternity, paternity, adoption or a risk during pregnancy or breastfeeding — here up to €8,800 is available. Concilia 2 subsidises the permanent hiring of someone to help care for children, elderly relatives or dependants: €7,500, and up to €9,000 when the post goes to a priority group.
The third line, Concilia 3, covers 75 percent of the cost of care services — nursery, day centre or holiday care, for instance — with a ceiling of €3,000. Important for planning: none of the lines is awarded competitively; they are granted in order of application, and only until the budget is exhausted. Anyone who hesitates may come away empty-handed.
Who can apply, and from when
Eligible applicants are self-employed people resident in the islands. Applications are filed electronically through the sede.gobiernodecanarias.org (procedure 10923); for questions, the Dirección General de Autónomos has set up the address dirgral.autonomos@gobiernodecanarias.org (Canarias7). Since the grant is retroactive to 18 October 2025, it is worth looking back: anyone who has already paid for a stand-in or for care since then may be able to claim the subsidy after the fact.
Why this is coming now
The backdrop is a figure the government itself stresses: the Canaries currently have 147,314 self-employed people — more than the number of unemployed. Vice-president and economy minister Manuel Domínguez called Concilia a «pioneering» measure and part of the «Plan Respaldo Autónomos» intended to strengthen the self-employed across the islands (Canarias Ahora). Domínguez also announced that a grant for periods of illness will follow shortly, covering social-security contributions during the first two months of sick leave; in parallel, the IGIC exemption threshold for small businesses was raised to €50,000 in annual turnover.
For the self-employed who have once faced the choice of closing up because a break was unaffordable, this is a concrete lever. Anyone wanting to check whether they qualify should not wait until summer — the budget cap applies.