A retiree has lost the right to continue collecting the minimum supplement in her widow’s pension, but she manages to reduce the amount of money she had to return to Social Security as undue charges to 4,445.70 euros after the Superior Court of Justice of Galicia ruled in her favor. The Court reduces the debt to 2,606.52 euros after explaining that although she lost the right to this supplement for exceeding the income limit by collecting three different pensions (two for widowhood and one for retirement), it corrects Social Security for making an erroneous and non-transparent calculation that caused defenselessness to the citizen.
As the ruling explains, Social Security asked this pensioner and widow to return the 4,445.70 euros of the minimum supplement collected in 2021 as it was an improper charge, but without clearly detailing the origin of said mathematical calculation. This was because he had exceeded the established income limit (in that year it was set at 7,707 euros per year). In addition, the woman received a Spanish widow’s pension, another from the Netherlands and a retirement pension from Germany.
Faced with this situation and seeing that the claim was disproportionate to what she received monthly for this concept, the pensioner presented allegations arguing “defenselessness.” According to his accounts, the minimum supplement he received was 186.18 euros per month, so the total amount to be returned should not exceed 2,606.52 euros.
Had the right to a debt recalculation
Although in the first instance the Social Court No. 7 of Vigo dismissed the claim, agreeing with the Social Security, the Superior Court of Justice of Galicia has revoked this ruling, agreeing with the widow, although partially. The Chamber explains that, although it is true that the pensioner was not entitled to the supplement for excess income, the calculation of the debt carried out by the Managing Entity did not adjust to reality and lacked the necessary motivation.
Thus, in this ruling the key or the doubt is not whether the money should be returned (something regulated by article 55 of the General Social Security Law, which can be consulted in this BOEon the reimbursement of undue benefits), but rather how said reimbursement is calculated.
The Court highlights that Social Security referred to “handwritten calculations without clear specification” and even with errors in the imputation exercise, which prevented the citizen from knowing why more than 4,000 euros were being requested.
Thus and for everything explained, the Court corrects the Administration and confirms that the amount unduly received corresponds exactly to multiplying by 14 payments the monthly supplement of 186.18 euros that the plaintiff received. In this way, the final debt is set at 2,606.52 euros, canceling the excess of almost 1,840 euros that Social Security intended to collect without sufficient justification.