Social Security

The amount of the pension is calculated by applying the corresponding general percentage, in accordance with the number of contribution years and, if applicable, the additional percentage when entering retirement over the age of 65, to the regulatory base.

Regulating base

It is result of dividing the interested party's contribution bases from the 180 months immediately prior to the triggering event by 210.

If they access the pension with active contributor or assimilated contributor status and with no obligation to make contributions, the calculation period for the regulatory base (RB) cannot be backdated to the time when the obligation to make contributions came to an end.

Updating of the contribution basis:

The contribution bases for the 24 months immediately prior to the month before the triggering event are taken at their nominal value.

The remaining bases are updated in accordance with the development of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), from the month to which they correspond up to the month immediately prior to the month when the period described in the foregoing paragraph begins.

Filling in of gaps:

If during the period to be counted for calculating the RB there are months in which the worker had no obligation to make contributions, these contribution gaps will be filled in, for the sole purposes of this calculation, using the minimum contribution base in force at any given time, in the General Scheme for workers over 18 years of age.

If during any month the obligation to make contributions is limited to just a portion of the month, the filling in of gaps outlined in the previous paragraph will apply only to the portion of the month in which there was no obligation to make contributions, as long as the contribution base that corresponds to the contributory period does not reach amount of the established minimum base. In this case, the integration is applied up to the last amount. 

In the case of workers included in the Special System for Domestic Employees, from 2012 to 2018, only effective contribution periods (with no filling in of gaps) will be taken into account for the calculation of the retirement pension RB.

In the case of workers included in the Special System for Agricultural Workers, as of 01/01/2012, only effective contribution periods (filling in of gaps is not applicable) will be taken into account for the calculation of the RB.

In the case of workers onpart-time, relief and permanent-intermittent contracts it should taken into account that:

• The filling in of periods, during which there was no obligation to make contributions, will be done using the minimum applicable contribution base at any given time, for the number of contracted hours on the date on which the obligation to make contributions was suspended or came to an end. If there was only an obligation to make contributions for a portion of the month, the filling in will only apply to the period of the month in which there was no obligation to make contributions, as long as the corresponding contribution base does not reach the aforementioned minimum base.
  
• With the exception of the periods between seasons or campaigns for workers with intermittent contracts, under no circumstances will the gaps in contribution be considered as the hours or days not worked because of the interruptions in rendering services resulting from the part time contract itself.

Increases in contribution bases:

Increases to the contribution bases for the previous two years cannot be included in the calculation if they are due to salary raises that exceed the average annual increase established in the general wages agreements for the relevant sector.

This rule will be valid for all raises except those that result from the strict application of the regulations contained in legal regulations and general wages agreements on seniority and standard worker promotions, as well as raises resulting from any other salary item that is also regulated by legal regulations or general wages agreements .

Multiple employment:

The bases used for making contributions to different companies will be counted in full, as long as the sum of these bases does not exceed the maximum contribution limit in force at any given time.

Multiple activity:

When contributions are certified in several schemes and eligibility for a pension is not granted in one of them, the contribution bases certified in said scheme while carrying out multiple activity may be added to those of the scheme in which pension eligibility exists, for the sole purposes of calculating the BR of the pension, as long as the sum of the bases does not exceed the maximum contribution limit in force at any given time.

Cases of payment exemption (*):

For periods of activity in which a worker has not made common contingency payments, with regard to workers with permanent contracts who are 65 years of age or older, and who have been contributing for 35 years or more, the following rules will be taken into account:

1. The bases through which the interested party had been making contributions are taken in accordance with the known average variation percentage in the CPI in the last specified year, plus two additional percentage points, except when the bases are greater than the result of increasing the average of the contribution bases from the previous calendar year.
   
2. If the contribution bases declared are greater than the average of those from the previous year, increased in accordance with rule 1, that amount is taken as the contribution base.
   
3. For the purposes of calculating the average described in rule 1, the contribution bases taken are those corresponding to the activity and company for which they are exempt from making contributions, and for a working schedule comparable to the one they are currently carrying out.
   
4. If there are no contribution bases in any of the months from the previous calendar year, the average of the existing contribution bases, divided by the number of months to which they correspond, shall be taken.
   
5. If there are no contribution bases for the activity subject to exemption from contributions, the contribution bases taken are those of the interested party for work done as an employee during the year prior to the beginning of said exemption, in accordance with a working schedule comparable to the one exempt from contributions.
   
6. If there are no contribution bases in the previous year, the contribution bases are taken for the first year in which they exist, calculating the average indicated in rule 1 and applying the rules indicated in the sections above. This average is increased by the average variation percentage in the previous calendar year or years up to the year of the payment exemption period.

UP

Percentage

• The percentage is variable according to the number of years of contributions to the Social Security, applying a scale that starts with 50% at 15 years (of contributions), and is increased by 3% for each additional year between 16 and 25 years and by 2% from 26 years until it reaches 100% at 35 years.

The years of contribution to take into account are those made:

• To the Social Security General Scheme.

• To the various Special Schemes of the Social Security.

• To the former Schemes for Old Age and Disability Insurance and/or Mutual Insurance.

• To the integrated schemes, including the above if they were calculated to cause the benefit rights expected from them.

• To other welfare organisations, which act as substitutes for those corresponding to the scheme or schemes which are pending integration.

• Those made to the Contributive Public Pension System.

• To Public Administrations and organisations dependant on them prior to 1-1-59 for staff who did not hold the status of civil servant.

• Rules for calculating the contribution years:

  If contributions are made after 1-1-67, all the days effectively contributed will be taken and the total number of days will be divided by 365 to obtain the number of years contributed. The fraction of the year which may result will be rounded up to a full year.

  If there are contributions made prior to 1-1-67, the number of years contributed is obtained by dividing the total number of days contributed (a fraction of a year, if there was one, will be rounded to a complete year) obtained from the sum of the following contributions, by 365:

  • Days contributed in the General Scheme and other schemes as of 1-1-67.
  • Days contributed in the Old-age and Disability Insurance and Labour Insurance schemes between 1-1-60 and 31-12-66, as long as they do not overlap.

  • The days of bonus which correspond to the worker, according to the age reached on 1-1-67, as long as contributions are accredited to the Old-age and Disability Insurance and/or Labour Insurance, in accordance with the following scale:
    

  SCALE FOR THE PAYMENT OF YEARS AND DAYS OF CONTRIBUTION

  Age on 1-1-67	Years	Days
  65 years	30	318
  64 years	30	67
  63 years	29	182
  62 years	28	296
  61 years	28	46
  60 years	27	161
  59 years	26	275
  58 years	26	25
  57 years	25	139
  56 years	24	254
  55 years	24	4
  54 years	23	118
  53 years	22	233
  52 years	21	347
  51 years	21	97
  50 years	20	212
  49 years	19	326
  48 years	19	76
  47 years	18	191
  46 years	17	305
  45 years	17	55
  44 years	16	169
  43 years	15	284
  42 years	15	34
  41 years	14	148
  40 years	13	263
  39 years	13	12
  38 years	12	127
  37 years	11	242
  36 years	10	356
  35 years	10	106
  34 years	9	220
  33 years	8	335
  32 years	8	85
  31 years	7	199
  30 years	6	314
  29 years	6	64
  28 years	5	178
  27 years	4	293
  26 years	4	42
  25 years	3	157
  24 years	2	272
  23 years	2	21
  22 years	1	136
  21 years	0	250

UP

Additional percentage for workers aged 65 years or over

• As of 01/01/2008, when the retirement pension is accessed at an age over 65 (actual) years old, as long as upon reaching this age the required minimum contribution period has been completed, the interested party will be granted an additional percentage for each full year of contributions, or year considered as an effective contribution year by law, between the date on which they turned 65 and the date of the triggering event of the pension.

• Additional percentage:

• 2% for each full year that has passed from the date of turning 65 until the date of the triggering event of the pension.
• 3% when the interested party has at least forty years of certified contributions upon turning 65.

• This additional percentage shall be added to the general amount that corresponds to the interested party in accordance with the years of contributions. The resulting percentage shall be applied to the RB for the purposes of calculating the pension amount, which cannot under any circumstances exceed the maximum limit set for contributory pensions by the corresponding LPGE.

• If the amount of the granted pension reaches the maximum limit without applying the additional percentage, or by only partially applying it, the interested party will receive:
• The maximum pension amount.
• In addition, they shall be entitled to receive an annual amount, calculated by applying the additional percentage that is not used to determine the pension amount to the maximum amount in force at any given time, rounded up to the nearest unit. This amount shall be paid at the end of each month and in 14 payments.
• The sum of this amount and the amount of the pension(s) granted to the interested party, calculated on an annual basis cannot exceed the maximum limit of the contribution base in force at any given time, likewise calculated on an annual basis.

• This benefit shall not be applicable to partial or flexible retirement.

UP

(*) Exemption from contributions of workers of 65 years of age or over:

Employers and workers shall be exempt from making Social Security contributions for unemployment, the Wage Guarantee Fund, vocational training and common contingencies, except for temporary disability arising from said contingencies, with regard to employees with permanent contracts, worker-members or workers in cooperatives, as long as they are aged 65 or over and have 35 or more years of effective Social Security contributions, not counting the proportional amount of extra payments for these purposes.

If on reaching 65 years of age, the worker has not contributed 35 years, the exemption will be applicable from the date on which the 35 years of effective contribution is made.

Exemptions will apply to contributions relating to workers who provide their services to Public Administrations or to Public Organisations governed by Section III of Law 6/1997, of 14 April, on the organisation and operation of the general administration of the state.

UP