The article presents the history of the Spanish social support system development from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the XXI century. The purpose of the article is to analyze the background and features of the Spanish social policy. To study the development of the Spanish welfare state, the article uses the comparative historical approach and the analysis of institutions, legal documents and statistical data. The experience of Spain and other countries is compared, approaches to the typology of social policy are considered, economic factors and transformations of support measures and principles of redistribution are analyzed. Despite the fact that some trends manifested in Spain earlier than in other countries, the Spanish welfare state formed relatively late. The country has developed a unique configuration of social support, combining the German logic of a corporatist approach with a British universalist one. The Spanish experience of organizational decisions in the field of social policy is of interest, since Spain is facing the problem of an aging population against a background of persistently high unemployment creating serious pressure on the social system, which retains its functionality due to a periodic revision of priorities.