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Benefits included in the Agreement

Benefits included in the Agreement

General Information

The Agreement applies to the following benefits:

Relating to Spain:

It applies to the following benefits from the Social Security System:

  • Economic benefits for temporary disability due to common illnesses or non-work-related injuries.
  • Economic benefits for maternity and risk during pregnancy.
  • Benefits for permanent disability due to common illnesses and non-work-related injuries, old age, and death and survival.
  • Family benefits for a dependent child.
  • Unemployment benefits.
  • Work-related injuries and occupational diseases.

In relation to Australia:

It applies to the following benefits:

  • Old age pensions.
  • Disability support pension for the severely handicapped.
  • Wife's pension.
  • Care payment.
  • Pensions payable to widows or widowers.
  • Pension for orphans of both parents.
  • Additional sum per child.

Regarding these benefits, remember that:

  • To get the contributory benefits included in the Agreement, periods of insurance fulfilled in Spain and Australia can be added together.
  • The economic benefits, except for those for temporary disability, unemployment, maternity, risk during pregnancy, and Spanish non-contributory benefits, can be collected regardless of whether the interested party is resident or currently located in Spain or Australia. There are certain restrictions on Australian orphans' pensions for those who are resident in Spain.
  • Each country will pay its own benefits directly to the beneficiary. However, if the amount corresponding to the benefit payments made is higher than that owed by the Social Security of the other country, it can be deducted from the first payments of the pension granted.
  • Those who meet the requirements of the legislation of both countries to be entitled to a pension can collect it from both.
  • For the benefits per child, the benefits per child granted by the other country do not count as income.

Australian Social Security Benefits

To be entitled to an Australian benefit, except for the pension for orphans of both parents, if the interested party is resident in or currently located in Spain when the application is made, he or she will be considered to be resident in and currently in Australia, if at any time he or she has been resident in Australia.

If the applicant is not entitled to the benefit because of not having the minimum period of residency in Australia, any periods of insurance in Spain can be added in, if they do not overlap, in order to meet the minimum time period requirement.

The amount of the benefit is calculated in a different way under Australian law, according to whether the interested party is resident in Australia or outside Australia:

In Australia:

If entitlement to the Australian pension is only met under the terms of the Agreement by adding together periods of residence, until the entitlement has been accepted in accordance with internal Australian legislation, the amount of the pension will be calculated according to Australian law without including as income any Spanish benefit that the person may be entitled to collect. However, the amount of any Spanish benefit that may have been granted will be deducted from the Australian benefit that must be paid.

Outside Australia:

If, according to Australian law, the person is entitled to a prorated pension, only a portion of the Spanish benefit will count as proof of income. This portion is calculated by multiplying the total number of months that this person has been resident in Australia (if it is not more than 300 months), by the amount of the Spanish benefit and dividing the result by 300. The following Spanish benefits will not be taken into account: Supplements to minimum contributory pensions, benefits for dependent children and non-contributory benefits.

Spanish Social Security Benefits

Temporary disability, risk during pregnancy, and maternity

To be granted these benefits, any periods of residence in Australia can be added in, if necessary.

Retirement, Permanent disability, and Death and Survival

The competent Spanish Institution will examine the application for benefits in the following way:

  • It will check that the interested party is entitled to the pension, taking into account only periods of insurance in Spain.
  • Also, it will calculate the benefit by adding together its own periods of insurance and those of accredited residence in Australia (theoretical pension). In this case, the benefit will not be for the whole amount but a proportion of the periods of insurance in Spain and the total of the periods of accredited residence and insurance in Australia and Spain, respectively (prorated pension).
  • The benefits calculated as shown in the previous sections will be compared and the benefit will be paid that favours the interested party.

The recognition and calculation of the pension will take into account:

  • It will be considered that the worker is subject to Spanish legislation if at the moment when the causal event occurred he or she is resident in Australia or collects an Australian benefit of which he or she was the originator. The same criterion will be applied to granting survival benefits.
  • The requirement of specific accredited periods of insurance will be considered to have been met if the interested party has accredited periods of active employment in Australia that are equivalent to those required, in the period immediately prior to the granting of the Australian benefit.
  • The clauses referring to the reduction, suspension or cancellation of a pension will be applied to pensioners who work even if they are working in Australia.
  • If periods of residence in Australia were taken into account to grant a Spanish pension, the pension will be calculated using the actual contribution bases of the insured person for the years immediately prior to the payment of the last contribution paid to Spanish Social Security. The amount obtained will be increased annually according to the established revaluations until the date of the causal event for benefits of the same kind.
  • For entitlement to the benefits of certain special regimes (for example, Seafarers or Coal Mining), only the periods in the other country spent in the same profession or job will be taken into account.
  • In the case of a retirement pension that takes into account periods of residency in Australia, this total shall also be used to determine the age of entitlement to the pension.

Work-related injuries and occupational diseases

The benefits will be paid by the competent Spanish institution, if the person was subject to Spanish legislation when the accident occurred or the disease was contracted, and, in this case, if he or she was working in a job that could cause this disease.

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