Special Schemes

The general requirements for entitling workers to benefits under the Special Systems are as follows:

• To be in registered employment or in a situation equivalent to registered employment in the corresponding System. However, workers can be entitled to a retirement pension while not being in registered employment provided they comply with the age and contribution requirements set.

• To be up-to-date with payments for which workers are directly liable, even though the benefit is awarded due to the reciprocal sum of contributions in a salaried employee system.
  • For these purposes, the payment demand mechanism provided for in |art.  28.2 of Decree 2530/1970, passed on 20 August, will be applicable for whatever Social Security system to which the applicant may belong at the time of applying for the benefit or in the system said benefit is applied for.
  • When, by deferring settlement of the payments owed, the applicant is considered up-to-date with payments for the purposes of awarding a benefit and he subsequently fails to meet the deferred payment schedule or conditions, he will no longer be considered up-to-date with payments, and the benefit he was receiving will immediately be suspended, and it will only be resumed once the debt with the Social Security has been settled in full. To this end, the benefit Management Entity may deduct the corresponding deferred debt payment from the monthly amounts accrued by the claimant.
  • For the purposes of acknowledging a pension entitlement, the contributions corresponding to the month of the causal event of the pension and to the two months prior to that, payment of which does not yet appear on the Social Security information systems, will be considered paid and the worker will not have to provide documentary evidence of this, provided he accredits the minimum contribution period required, without counting these three months therein.
  • In these cases, every year, the Managing Entity will review all the pensions acknowledged in the previous year that were presumed up-to-date with payments to verify the timely and effective payment of these contributions. In the event that said contributions were not paid, the pension will be immediately suspended and the monthly pension payments will be retained to settle the contribution payments until they are fully paid off, whereupon pension payment will commence once again.

The benefit is recognised under the same terms and conditions as the General Social Security System, with the following particular features:

• Age: the ordinary age required at any time.

However, in certain special cases, those workers who have, over their working lives, contributed to Social Security Systems that acknowledge the right to early retirement may retire at below the ordinary age, provided that they meet certain requirements.

• Base pension:

There is no gap integration. If, in the period taken into account for making the calculation, there were months during which there were no contribution obligations, said months will not be completed with the minimum bases in force for workers aged 18 or over.

In the cases of a reduction in the contribution bases:

The stipulations set forth in sections 2 and 3 of temporary provision no.5 of the   General Social Security Act (LGSS) is applicable to salaried employees or self-employed workers for whom a year has passed since their activity termination benefit regulated under Law 32/2010, passed on 5 August, expired, provided said termination took place after the worker reached 55 years of age, has been claimed based on the last activity performed prior to the event leading to the retirement pension.

In cases of payments being exonerated, the following rules will apply for the periods of activity when no contributions were paid, for the purposes of calculating the base pension:

1. The contribution bases taken into account for calculating the base pension will be those resulting from increasing the average of the contribution bases for the calendar year immediately preceding the start of the period of exemption from contributions by the average percentage variation in the CPI in the last year indicated; the bases calculated in this way can never be lower than the minimum base contribution set annually in the General State Budget Act. .
   
2. For the purposes of calculating said average, the contribution bases taken into account will be those for the self-employment activity which is exempted from contribution.
   
3. If, when the period exempt from contribution starts, there were some months in the previous calendar year with no contribution bases, the average will be taken of those that do exist, divided by the number of months to which they correspond.
   
4. If there are no contribution bases for the previous year, we take the contribution bases in the first year they do exist, calculating the average as per the rules mentioned in the foregoing sections. Said average will be raised by a the average percentage variation of the calendar year or years until reaching the year in which payment exoneration begins.

• Percentage:

The year allowance scale, according to the age reached on 01/01/67 is not applicable for the purposes of calculating the number of years contributed.

• Causal event of the benefit:

• The last day of the month in which employment is terminated for persons in registered employment.
• The last day of the month in which the claim is submitted for persons in situations equivalent to registered employment.
• The date of the claim for situations other than registered employment.

• Financially effective:

The first day of the month following the causal event.

• Compatibility/Incompatibility

• Exoneration of payments:

As from 01/01/2013, self-employed workers are exempt from paying contributions to the Social Security System provided they are in any of the following situations, except when due to temporary disability or for professional contingencies: 

• 65 years of age and 38 years and 6 months contributed.
• 67 years of age and 37 years contributed.
  

The proportional parts of extra salary payments will not compute for these purposes. If, upon reaching the corresponding age the worker has not contributed the number of years required in each case, the exemption provided for in these cases will be applicable as of the date when the required number of years of contributed can be accredited in each case.

For the periods of activity for which the worker has not contributed, as per section 1, to determine the base pension of the benefits exempt from contribution, the contribution bases for the monthly payments of each financial year exempt from contribution will be equivalent to the result of increasing the average of the contribution bases for the immediately preceding calendar year by the average percentage variation in the consumer price index in the last year indicated; the bases calculated in this way cannot be lower than the minimum or single contribution bases set every year in the General State Budget Act for self-employed workers included in the Special Social Security Systems referred to in the previous section.

For workers for whom contribution exemptions were applied, provided for in additional provision no. 32 prior to 1 January 2013 and who are entitled to a retirement pension after said date, the period for which said exemptions have been applied will be considered as a period of paid contributions for the purposes of calculating the corresponding pension.

• Partial retirement: pending development of regulations.
• Special retirement at the age of 64 is not covered.
• Early retirement for non-members of Mutual Insurance Societies  is not covered.
• Early retirement due to non-voluntary termination of employment is not covered.
• More information on this Regime:
  • Other benefits.
  • Basic regulations.
  • People included in the scope of application of this Regime, affiliation, registration and withdrawal and contribution. 

The benefit is recognised under the same terms and conditions as the General Social Security Regime, with the following particular features:

RETIREMENT:

• Age:

The ordinary age required at any given time will go down by a period equivalent to the result of applying the corresponding coefficient to the period of time the individual has worked in each category and professional speciality in coal mining, in accordance with a scale of between 0.50 and 0.05, based on the hazard and toxicity of the activity undertaken.

Workers under 60 years of age may only retire if their theoretical age (real age plus discounts) is over the minimum required. 

Early retirement due to being a member of a mutual society: from the real age of 60, by applying differential coefficients, for workers who were covered by this special regime on 1-4-69 and who made contributions to one of the Coal Mining Mutual Societies on 31 March of that year or on any other prior date, or who made contributions to a Mutual Society for workers employed by another person before 1-1-67.

• Base pension:

This will be as applicable, but the contribution basis will be the standard basis.

• Percentage:

The period of time by which the retirement age of the worker is reduced will be counted as covered by contributions for the purposes of increasing the pension percentage for years of contributions.

RETIREMENT OF TOTALLY DISABLED PEOPLE:

• Beneficiaries:

Pensioners in receipt of Total Permanent Disability benefits in this Special Regime will be deemed to be in a situation similar to that of affiliated contributors when they meet the following requirements:

• Those of the required real age at any given time or of the theoretical age reached by applying the corresponding coefficient to the period of time the individual actually worked in each of the coal mining categories, in accordance with the aforementioned scale. 
• The Total Permanent Disability pension did not replace, by choice, the retirement pension that the interested party received from this Special Regime.
• The payments for the period between the effective date of the Total Permanent Disability and that of the event which led to retirement must have been paid, including employer and employee contributions, deducting the sum of any payments which, during said period, were paid into this Special Regime on behalf of the interested party.

• Base pension:

It shall be determined by taking into account, for each of the months included, the base amount corresponding to the category or professional speciality in which the interested party worked when their Total Permanent Disability occurred.

• Percentage:

Contributions paid by the recipient between the effective date of the total permanent disability pension and the date of the event that led to retirement shall be calculated:

• To determine the percentage applicable based on the number of years of contributions.
• To calculate the minimum contribution period  required in order to be eligible for the pension.

• More information on this Regime:

• Other benefits.
• Basic regulations.
• People included in the scope of application  of this regime, affiliation, , registration and withdrawal  and contribution . 

The benefit is granted under the same terms and conditions as in the General Scheme, with the following special conditions:

• Age:

The Special Scheme for Sea Workers includes coefficients that reduce the retirement age of certain workers due to the severity, the demanding conditions, distance, etc., of work at sea, which make it possible to reduce the retirement age by up to a maximum of 10 years with respect to the general age of 65.

The reduction coefficients that are applied vary by class of vessel, propulsion type and the nature of the work:

• Work aboard merchant marine ships: 0.40 to 0.20.
• Work aboard fishing vessels. 0.40 to 0.15.
• Port stevedores: 0,30.
• Shellfish and barnacle fishermen and seaweed collectors: 0,10

The period of time by which the retirement age is reduced is considered to be paid contribution time for the sole purpose of determining the percentage applicable to the regulating base. Both the age reduction and the calculation of the period of time for the percentage apply even if the pension is the result of some other Social Security Scheme.

Early retirement due to being an insurance holder: this is granted under the same terms as in the General Scheme, although references to the effective date for the General Scheme (1-1-67) should be taken to mean 1-8-70, as this was the date on which the Special Scheme for Sea Workers (REM) came into effect.

As an temporary right, in the Special Scheme for Sea Workers, workers who were registered in the National Maritime Mutual Society, the National Mutual Aid Society for Costal Fishermen and the Port Stevedores' Pension Fund, on the date that the Special Scheme for Sea Workers came into effect (1-8-1970) or previously, and in accordance with the regulations in effect on that date, who were entitled to retirement pension as from 55 years of age, or 60 in the case of the port stevedores, may gain entitlement to the retirement pension at those ages, without prejudice to the fact that percentage of the pension is reduced by seven hundredths for each year remaining up to retirement age.

Early retirement without being a mutual insurance holder: is recognised on the same terms as in the General Scheme. However, only self-employed workers in the Special Scheme for Sea Workers are eligible for this type of retirement.

• Base Pension:

It is calculated in the same way as for the General Scheme. However, the contribution gaps are not covered for self-employed workers in the period used to calculate the regulating base.

• Percentage:

The period of time by which the workers' retirement age is reduced is computed as having been contributed for with respect to increasing the pension percentage for years of contribution.

Early retirement due to being an insurance holder:  The relevant regulatory base percentage, based on the years of contribution, is reduced by applying the following reduction coefficients:

• When the worker receives the pension due to voluntary retirement or when there are less than 38 years of certified contributions, independent of the reasons for retirement, the amount of the pension is reduced by 7% for each year remaining till the age of 65, at the moment of retirement.
  
  
• When the worker certifies 38 years or more of contributions and received the pension due to contract termination for reasons other than free will, the pension reduction percentages, based on the years of contributions, are the following:

Early retirement without being a mutual insurance holder: This type of retirement is granted on the same terms and conditions as the General Scheme. However, only self-employed workers in the Special Scheme for Sea Workers are eligible for this type of retirement.

More information relating to this Scheme:

• Other benefits.
• Basic Regulations.
• Persons included in the scope of application of this Scheme, affiliation, registration and termination and contributions.

• Processing:
  
  Provincial and Local Departments of the Marine Social Institute (ISM).

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