Santa Cruz de Tenerife Ayuntamiento / Council

The local town hall / council office is the normal gateway to Spanish statutory social care. To apply for statutory social care a UK national must normally have been resident in Spain for 5 years in total and continuously for the last two years. This is why it is important that residents, and their families, think ahead and register residency (see “Helpful Topics” section of this web). (If a UK national resident is not registered on the “padrón” in extreme cases some short-term emergency help may be available, but is ad hoc, cannot be predicted and varies by municipality).