Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion

Spain - Ordinary, partial and flexible retirement pension

This chapter explains what financial support you can receive once you reach the legal retirement age. In addition, we will explain the ways to combine part-time work with receiving a part of your pension in Spain.

Below we will tell you about:

  • Ordinary retirement (jubilación ordinaria)
  • Flexible retirement (jubilación flexible)
  • Partial retirement (jubilación parcial)

When can you apply for these?

Ordinary retirement: in Spain, you can apply for a life retirement pension when reaching the legal retirement age.

Flexible retirement: after you retire, you can combine receiving a part of your pension with part-time work (reducing your full working day by 25% to 50%). Your pension is reduced proportionally.

Partial retirement: if you have not reached the legal retirement age, you can combine a part-time employment contract with receiving part of your retirement pension. This retirement should be linked to a hand-over contract, that is, the part-time hiring of an unemployed worker. If you have already reached the legal retirement age, there is no need to sign a hand-over contract.

There are also other possibilities to combine retirement pension with work.

What requirements must you meet?

  • Ordinary retirement: in general you can apply for this pension if you are affiliated to any social security system and meet the age and contribution requirements. It is worth knowing that the retirement age, which varies according to the contribution period, will be applied gradually during the next few years, according to a scale:
  • Age: you can apply for this pension if you have reached the ordinary age, apart for some exceptions. Currently, the minimum age for applying for this pension is 65, if you can prove you have paid at least 37 years and 9 months of contributions or 66 years and 4 months if you have less contributions. Workers who apply for this pension without being registered with Social Security must meet the same requirements.
  • Minimum contribution period: 15 years, of which two at least should fall within the 15 years immediately preceding the start of your entitlement.
  • Flexible retirement: in order to access this type of retirement you should meet the requirements (age and contributions) required in the case of ordinary retirement and prove that you are going to work part time, with a reduction in your working day of 25% to 50%. Even though you combine your pension with part-time work, you will continue to be a "pensioner", which means you will have the same healthcare entitlement as an ordinary pensioner.
  • Partial retirement: you can retire partially if you have reached the legal retirement age, reduce your working day by 25% to 50% and meet the rest of the conditions required for ordinary retirement.

You can also take partial retirement before the legal retirement age, reducing your working day from 25% to 75% (with a minimum age that varies depending on the case) if, furthermore, you have a minimum of 6 years of service in the company, have been paying contributions for 33 years and your company signs a specific relief contract.

What are you entitled to and how can you apply for it?

Ordinary retirement

Amount

Payment and duration

50% of the calculation basis, for 15 years' contributions. The percentage increases progressively until reaching 100% corresponding to a contribution period of 37 years and 9 months.

There are guaranteed minimum and maximum amounts (€3,058.81 in 2023) and the annual indexation.

14 monthly payments.

Payment starts from the day after leaving work (for applications submitted during the three months before or after) and only end on the death of the beneficiary (life pension).

Flexible retirement

Calculation of the amount of this type of pension is based on the pensioner's ordinary retirement and is reduced proportional to the working day. Before starting part-time work, you should inform the institution which handles your payments as a pensioner (INSS) about your new circumstances. The new amount of your pension is applied from the day when you start your part-time work. The original amount will be re-established, once it has been recalculated, when your part-time contract ends.

Partial retirement

The amount of this type of pension results from applying the percentage of reduction of the working day to the amount of the corresponding pension, according to the years of contributions. Reduction coefficients are not applied for being younger than the legal age.

You can apply for an ordinary, partial or flexible retirement pension in the centros de atención e información de la Seguridad Social of the Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS), which will confirm your entitlement to a retirement pension. Once you have applied, you should receive a reply on your pension award within a maximum period of 90 days.

Jargon busters

  • Part-time work: work undertaken for a number of hours per day, week, month or year that are fewer than the work hours of a full time worker.
  • Hand-over contract: this is entered into with an unemployed worker or one who has agreed a fixed duration contract with the company, to replace the working hours left undone by the partially retired employee.

Documents you will need

Find out about your entitlements

These links will help you to find out about your entitlements in Spain. They are not European Commission links and do not represent the opinion of the Commission:

Publications and web pages of the European Commission:

Who can you contact?

Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS)
C/ Padre Damián, 4
28036 Madrid
SPAIN
Tel. +34 915688300 
Fax +34 915640484
Web page: http://www.seg-social.es

Social Security Information Centres.

For any problem with your entitlement as a European citizen: EU welfare services.

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