Administration and payment

Pensioners living abroad shall provide proof of life in order to continue receiving the pension to which they are entitled, by means of the relevant certificate issued by the head of the consular civil registry.

The original document providing proof of life must be submitted during the first quarter of the year. If the specified deadline has passed without this document having been received, the pension will be cancelled with effect from 31 March of that year.

Civil service pensions are accrued on a monthly basis and paid in 14 instalments: 12 ordinary and 2 extraordinary.

• Regular monthly payments are payable in full, including the payment for the month in which the entitlement ceases.
  
• Monthly instalments or extraordinary payments fall due on the first day of June and December, and are paid together with the monthly instalments for those months. The amount is the same as for ordinary payments, except in the following cases:
  • First extraordinary payment from the date on which the pension takes effect or from the date of reinstatement of the pension: one-sixth is paid for each of the months between that first day on which the pension takes effect, or the date of reinstatement of the pension, and 31 May or 30 November thereafter, as applicable.
  • Final extraordinary payment after the death of a pensioner or the loss of entitlement to a pension: this is accrued on the first day of the month in which the death occurs, or the entitlement ceases, and is paid together with the final monthly pension instalment, as accrued but unclaimed benefits, to the pensioner’s civil law heirs, or to the pensioner themselves, at a rate of one-sixth for each of the months falling between the date on which that payment accrues and the preceding 31 May or 30 November.

Payments of State civil service pensions and benefits are made exclusively by bank transfer to the current account or ordinary savings account designated by the pensioner, which must be held in their name – either individually or jointly with other persons – at a financial institution located in Spain or abroad, depending on their place of residence.

However, civil service pension benefits applied for before 1 April 2010 and which were being paid through an authorised civil service pension agent may continue to be paid via that system. In such cases, authorised agents are obliged to pay the pensioner the full amount of the civil service pension or pensions paid to them by the Administration, without making any deductions for commissions, administrative fees or taxes arising from their professional involvement. The pensioner must pay the authorised representative the amounts relating to these items once they are aware of the sums involved, as agreed between the two parties.

The maximum retroactive period for the financial effects of the recognition of benefits under the Civil Service Pension Scheme, as well as under the special legislation arising from the Civil War, shall be three months, starting from the first day of the month after submitted the application.

However, the limitation period for the recovery of any benefit received in error shall be four years.