The Labour Compensation Fund has €517 million unclaimed and the deadline is 31 December
Companies in Portugal have until 31 December 2026 to withdraw their Labour Compensation Fund (FCT) balance. Miss it and the money is gone. Who qualifies, what it can pay for, and how to claim.
Apply / Learn moreIf your company has hired anyone in Portugal since October 2013, there is a good chance you have money sitting in the Labour Compensation Fund — and you have until 31 December 2026 to claim it. After that the balance passes to the Guarantee Fund and your company loses access. An estimated €517 million is still unclaimed.
What is the Labour Compensation Fund?
For almost ten years, every company signing a new employment contract had to deposit a small percentage of the worker’s pay into the FCT each month. The idea was to build a cushion: when the day came to pay severance on a contract ending, the money would already be there instead of landing on the cash flow all at once.
The scheme stopped taking new contributions, and lawmakers gave companies a window to withdraw what had piled up. That window opened in the last quarter of 2023 and closes on 31 December 2026. That’s the clock a lot of people haven’t noticed is running.
Who can claim the FCT money?
The employer that made the deposits. The balance belongs to the company, not the worker — this trips people up constantly. What the law protects is the severance the worker is entitled to when a contract ends; the FCT is just the piggy bank the company was filling to cover part of it.
What can the money be spent on?
Here’s the part that makes the FCT more interesting than it sounds. The balance doesn’t just land in the account and that’s that — it has to go to purposes set out in law:
- up to 50% of the severance owed when an employment contract ends;
- certified training and qualification programmes for staff;
- housing policies;
- investments agreed with workers’ representative bodies.
Look at the second and third. Certified training and housing are two of the biggest staff-retention headaches in Portugal right now, and here’s a balance that already belongs to the company, waiting to be spent on exactly that. It’s probably the cheapest training budget an SME will find this year, because the money is already paid.
How do you apply for the withdrawal?
The request is made online at the official Fundos de Compensação do Trabalho portal, using company credentials. Once submitted, the bank transfer lands on the 8th of the month following the request — so a request made in September is paid on 8 October.
There’s a cap on attempts, and it’s worth knowing before you rush a submission: companies with a balance under €400,000 can make up to two requests; above that, up to four. This isn’t a counter where you can withdraw in slices whenever it suits — add everything up and plan the request in one go.
What happens if you miss the December deadline?
The balance transfers automatically to the Labour Compensation Guarantee Fund and the company loses access. There’s no fine and no penalty — it simply stops being your money. It’s the corporate version of a gift card nobody got round to spending.
With €517 million still sitting there and five and a half months on the clock, the maths is uncomfortable: plenty of companies will reach January and find they left behind the equivalent of a month of training for the entire team. The subject is on the agenda at this Wednesday’s social concertation meeting, precisely because the deadline is closing in.
Quick questions
Is the FCT the worker’s money?
No. The balance belongs to the employer that made the deposits. What belongs to the worker is the statutory severance when a contract ends — the FCT is the mechanism that helps the company pay it.
Are companies still paying into the FCT?
No. The scheme no longer takes new contributions. All that’s left is withdrawing what accumulated.
What if a company doesn’t know its balance?
You check it at fundoscompensacao.pt with company credentials. That’s step one before any decision — plenty of companies find sums well above what they expected.
What is the deadline again?
31 December 2026. Given the payment calendar (the 8th of the following month), anyone who wants the cash in hand this year should do the maths with room to spare.
Image: João Carvalho / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
