Social Security allows workers who have had to stop working to care for their children or family members to add years of contributions so that their retirement pension is not affected. In this way, the General Social Security Law recognizes up to a maximum of 3 years for each child and up to 3 years for each family member. This is possible thanks to what the standard defines as effective contribution periods during leave, which recognizes as contributions certain periods of work inactivity derived from caring for minor children or dependent family members.
This benefit is regulated in article 237 of the General Social Security Law (LGSS), which can be consulted in this Official State Gazette, and serves to meet the requirements to access the contributory retirement pension. That is, it can help to complete both the generic deficiency, which requires a minimum of 15 years of contributions, and the specific one, which requires having at least 2 years of contributions within the 15 years prior to retirement.
It can also be key to not delaying the ordinary retirement age, since these periods count as contributions and can help to reach the period required to access retirement at the most favorable age sooner.
In this way, as it is an interruption of working life motivated by the care of children or family members and beyond the control of the worker, Social Security protects the worker so that their benefits are not harmed.
How does the contribution for child or family care leave work?
This Social Security mechanism works in such a way that it considers these periods of leave as if the worker had continued contributing for the purposes of certain benefits. It is an effective contribution that adds to working life. In this sense, article 237 distinguishes two types:
- For child care: a period of up to three years is counted as effective contribution for each child or minor, whether due to birth, adoption, custody for adoption purposes, permanent foster care or care of a foster minor.
- For caring for family members: the first three years of the leave period are counted as effective contributions to care for a family member, up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity, who for reasons of age, accident, illness or disability cannot take care of themselves and does not carry out a paid activity.
On the other hand, in addition to this effective contribution during leave, those who interrupt their working life can benefit from other mechanisms, such as special agreements to continue contributing voluntarily or the supplement to reduce the gender gap, in case their professional career has been reduced due to childcare.
An example to understand it
Let’s imagine the case of a worker who, in 2026, has been contributing for 22 years. That same year, his mother suffers a serious illness and is recognized as a dependent, so this worker requests a family care leave to care for her. He spends two full years dedicated to this task, without working or contributing, and returns to his job in 2028.
When this worker goes to request his retirement pension in the future, Social Security will not only take into account the 22 years he had contributed before taking leave and those he contributed after his reinstatement. Thanks to the provisions of article 237 of the General Social Security Law, those two years in which he was taking care of his mother will be considered an effective contribution period.
Therefore, those two years will not be lost and can count both to meet the requirements for access to the pension and to improve the amount that corresponds to you when the time comes to retire.
What effects does it have on retirement?
These periods count for the purposes of benefits such as retirement, permanent disability, death and survival, maternity and paternity, in the terms provided by law. Therefore, they not only help to reach the minimum required to access the pension, but they can also influence the final amount collected.
In other words, Social Security prevents the worker from seeing his contribution career jeopardized by having temporarily left his job to attend to a family need or care for a child.
Difference with reduction of working hours
Leave to care for children or family members should not be confused with a reduction in working hours due to legal guardianship. In this second case, the law also protects the worker and establishes that, during the first three years of reduction in working hours for child care, contributions will be computed increased to 100% of the amount that would have corresponded if full working hours had been maintained.
Therefore, although both measures seek to protect the worker’s contribution career, their regulation is not exactly the same and it is advisable to differentiate them so as not to lead to error.