Nearshore software development in Spain for UK teams

What nearshore from Spain means in practice

Nearshore means working with a team in a nearby country: close enough to share most of your working day and to meet in person when it matters. Offshore usually means a distant time zone, most often India or South-East Asia, where the main argument is cost.

SocketStack is a bespoke software team based in Spain, working remotely with UK, Irish and other European businesses on web platforms, mobile apps, AI and automation. We have no UK office or address. What we commit to does not change with your country: a working demo every two weeks on a written schedule, one fixed price per project, and the code in a repository in your company's name from day one.

Time zone: one hour ahead of the UK, all year

Mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands use Central European Time, one hour ahead of GMT. Spain's summer-time decree, which transposes the EU directive, moves the clocks on the last Sunday of March and the last Sunday of October, the same days as the UK. So the gap stays at one hour all year. The Canary Islands keep the same time as the UK.

In practice, a 9:00 UK start is 10:00 in mainland Spain, so most of the UK working day overlaps; the meeting and demo schedule is agreed in writing at the start. Travel is short too: Skyscanner puts the average London to Madrid flight at about 2 hours 28 minutes.

Data protection between the UK, Spain and the EU

Since Brexit, the UK and the EU each decide whether the other protects personal data adequately. On 19 December 2025 the European Commission announced the renewal of its two adequacy decisions for the UK. Each runs for six years, to 27 December 2031, with a review after four years. That covers personal data flowing from the EU to the UK.

The other direction is set by the UK. The ICO says you don't need any new arrangements for transfers from the UK to the EEA, because the UK government permits them, and notes that the government keeps this under review.

Adequacy settles where data may go between the UK and the EU. It does not replace a contract, and it does not cover every route: if a supplier's contracting entity, hosting or sub-processors sit outside the UK and the EEA, that leg is an international transfer in its own right and needs its own safeguards. Who processes what, where systems are hosted and which sub-processors are involved belong in a data-processing agreement.

Contracting entity, invoicing and data-processing terms, including any international transfer safeguards, are set out in writing in the proposal. Have your data protection lead or adviser review them, as you would with any supplier.

Salaries and rates: UK vs Spain, with the caveats

Lower salaries are the argument most nearshore pages lead with. The public data is patchy, so here are three sources with different methods side by side. Treat them as an order of magnitude, not a benchmark.

Levels.fyi leans towards large tech employers and includes bonuses and shares; JobRise publishes no methodology. Sterling at the ECB reference rate of 4 November 2026 (€1 = £0.8346). A lower salary does not make a project cheaper in the same proportion: compare the fixed price for the whole project and what it includes. Our guide to how much custom software costs explains what drives a quote.

Spain vs offshore, other nearshore countries, a UK agency or a freelancer

If you are shortlisting a nearshore software development company in Europe, or weighing it against other routes, every option here can work. The differences are time-zone overlap, the data regime and who carries the risk. The hourly rates below are published by agencies that sell these services: DBB Software (a UK and Polish nearshore agency), Magora (a London agency) and Duotach (a Spanish agency). Use them as an order of magnitude only.

On freelancers: HMRC's off-payroll working rules (IR35) apply when a contractor working through their own company would have been an employee if engaged directly, with different rules for small and for medium or large clients. Check how they apply to your engagement with your adviser.

How contracting works

Contracting entity, invoicing and data-processing terms are set out in writing in the proposal, before you sign anything. The proposal also fixes the scope, the price for the project, the demo schedule and the support terms afterwards. Scope changes are quoted separately and only go ahead with your approval.

On VAT, in general terms: HMRC's guidance says that when a UK business buys most services from a supplier that belongs outside the UK, the reverse charge usually applies. The customer accounts for the VAT itself: output tax in box 1 of the VAT return, the input tax it is entitled to in box 4, and the full value in boxes 6 and 7. If you can recover that VAT in full, HMRC says it has no net cost; if you make exempt supplies, it can cost you. HMRC notes that EU member states apply equivalent provisions. This describes the mechanism, not your situation: check with your adviser.

Whoever you choose, ask these questions before signing:

• Who is the contracting entity, and which law and courts govern the contract?
• Where is your data hosted and processed, and by which sub-processors?
• Who owns the code and the repository, and from when? With us, the repository is in your company's name from day one.
• What happens if you change supplier? With us, everything is handed over documented.
• What does support cost afterwards, and what is in or out? Ours is set out on written terms.

When nearshore from Spain is not the right call

Sometimes it is not, and it is better to say so early:

• You need people on site several days a week, on a factory floor or in a warehouse. A local team is simpler.
• The job is a small, well-defined task one developer can finish in a few days. A freelancer may be the better fit.
• An off-the-shelf tool already does it. Then you need neither us nor anyone else, and we will tell you on the call.
• Your contracts or a framework require a UK-established supplier or specific certifications. Check that before anything else.

If it does fit, we start with a free 30-minute call, sign an NDA before going into detail and send a written proposal with one fixed price per project. The rest, from the demo every two weeks to the handover, is on how we work. Most projects start with discovery and an MVP; afterwards, software maintenance and support is on written terms.