The Supreme Court (TS) has endorsed that the autonomous administrations can extinguish ex officio a non-contributory pension pension (PNCJ) of the Social Security system, managed in this case by the Community of Madrid, which has transferred those powers. For more than ten years, the 75-year-old retiree collected a non-contributory pension of 347 euros per month. She was recognized in 2011 when she proved that she did not have sufficient income and that help was her main financial support. According to ruling STS 1813/2026, a change in his family situation ended up taking his case to court.
The pensioner moved to his sister’s house in 2021. She lived in a municipality in the Community of Madrid, in Parla. It declared an annual income of 14,397 euros, which placed the cohabitation unit above the limit established by the norm to continue charging a non-contributory retirement pensionwhich that year was 9,586 euros.
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The Department of Family, Youth and Social Policy of the Community of Madrid then reviewed the file, deducing that the benefit should be extinguished with retroactive effects from January 2021, which is why it demanded from the retiree the return of 11,939 euros collected over almost two years.
The retiree denounced that withdrawing the pension was not the responsibility of the Community of Madrid
The man appealed the decision, arguing not so much the income limit as the procedure used by the Administration since he maintained that the Community of Madrid could not on its own withdraw a benefit that was recognized by Social Security and that he must first go to court to obtain judicial authorization.
The Social Court number 44 of Madrid and then the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) initially agreed with him, understanding that the administration could not unilaterally review a recognized right without opening a specific judicial procedure. The resolutions, then, annulled the withdrawal of the pension and the return of the money.
But the case reached the Supreme Court, which has corrected this ruling, agreeing with the Community of Madrid. He considered that it was not a question of reviewing aid that had been wrongly granted from the beginning but rather of adapting the benefit to a new circumstance that had arisen. The increase in income of the family unit ten years after the right to the pension was granted.
Non-contributory pensions are subject to financial requirements
Non-contributory pensions are conditional on the maintenance of certain economic requirements and the administration can extinguish them directly when these are no longer met. According to the court, in these cases it is not necessary to first go to court.
The ruling states that “the right was not unconditional but was subject to the maintenance of the requirements for its enjoyment.”
The resolution has the consequence that the Supreme Court now establishes doctrine supporting that the Autonomous Communities can withdraw non-contributory pensions ex officio and claim the amounts unduly paid when there are changes in the economic situation of the beneficiaries.
The High Court annulled the previous rulings, rejecting the pensioner’s claim and validating the withdrawal of aid and the claim for almost 12,000 euros.