Catalonia's free 012 public information line will start taking weekend calls at 9am on Saturday 14th November, the Generalitat, the Catalan government, has announced. Residents will be able to ask for help with public services and administrative procedures on Saturdays and Sundays that are not public holidays.

The new hours are 9am to 8pm on those weekends. The service was previously open from Monday to Friday, 8am to 10pm, giving people who could not call during the working week another opportunity to speak to an agent.

The government announced the extension on Friday 13th November. Its citizen services guide describes the information and procedures available through 012 and its other contact channels.

What callers can use 012 for

The line offers general information about public administration, answers questions and helps callers complete procedures online. Its team has 350 agents, according to the Generalitat.

People can ask for support with administrative procedures, paying taxes and requesting appointments at offices that provide in-person services. Agents also provide information on education, housing and mobility.

The government's service guide says 012 can receive complaints and suggestions and pass them to the relevant units for a response. It also offers automated information through a voice self-service system.

Albert Dalmau, the Catalan government's minister of the presidency, explained the reason for changing the hours:

“We know that the weekend is when people have time, when the opportunity arises to carry out a procedure. So we felt that this would resolve an anomaly: 012 not being available on Saturdays and Sundays.”

Call volumes and other information channels

The Generalitat said demand for 012 was a reason for extending the service. From January to October 2026, it handled 2,251,955 calls, 16.8% more than in the same period of 2025. The ten-month total was close to the 2,322,402 calls recorded in the whole of 2025.

Some telephone information is already available outside general service hours. The government's guide lists information on police force addresses and telephone numbers, suburban rail incidents and traffic conditions as available 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Information on rail transport is available daily from 7am to 11pm, according to the guide. It also says recorded information is offered during and after opening hours.

For residents using digital channels, the guide lists answers to enquiries made to the @gencat012_bot from Monday to Friday, 8am to 10pm, except on public holidays. Answers on the listed government Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts are provided on weekdays from 9am to 6pm, also excluding public holidays.

Sources: El País, El Periódico.