Workers with layoffs in the 25 years prior to retirement will see those gaps filled with fictitious bases, but this time will not be used to add the years required to retire.

The integration of gaps is a mechanism regulated in article 209.1.b) of the General Social Security Law, which allows “filling in” the months without contributions with fictitious bases. This system is activated when a worker accesses the pension and presents work stoppages within the previous 25 years that are reviewed for the calculation of his retirement, thus ensuring that the final amount is not affected when the mathematical average is made.

To determine the pension that corresponds to a retiree, Social Security mainly takes into account two factors: the contribution bases, which are used to calculate the regulatory base (the theoretical 100% of the pension to which one is entitled), and the total years of contributions, which defines the percentage of that base that will finally be collected.

Now, to understand how it works (especially for those who stop working in their last years), you must first know how the pension is calculated. Starting this year, 2026, the amount depends on a regulatory base that is obtained by applying a dual system in which Social Security calculates the pension in two ways and automatically applies the one that is most favorable for the worker:

• The traditional method: The contribution bases of the last 25 years (300 months) continue to be added and the result is divided by 350.
• The new progressive method: The last 304 months prior to retirement are reviewed, from which the 302 best bases are chosen (discarding the two worst ones ex officio) and the result is divided by 352.33.

In both calculations, the bases for the two years closest to retirement are taken at face value, while the rest of the bases above are updated for inflation to reflect their real value. To understand this, think that the 2,000 euros from decades ago are not worth the same as they are now; hence that “inflation effect”.

Thus, a “break” in contributions during those years can reduce the average regulatory base and, therefore, the final pension. To mitigate this effect, Social Security “fills” these gaps in the following way:

• The first 48 monthly payments without obligation to contribute are completed with 100% of the minimum contribution base in force at that time.
• If there are more months without contributions, starting from month 49 they are filled with 50% of that same minimum base.

Furthermore, with the reform under Royal Decree 2/2023, women (and men who meet the conditions for childcare) are covered in the gaps between month 49 and 60 to 100% of the minimum base, and from 61 to 84 to 80%.

On the other hand, to those who apply the legislation prior to the rule introduced by Law 27/2011, all periods without contributions are integrated with 100% of the minimum base in force at any time.

It does not serve to fulfill the generic or specific deficiency

This mechanism serves to avoid a reduction in the amount of the pension, but not to reach the minimum requirement to retire. That is to say, if we have been contributing for 13 years, Social Security will not add two years to access the pension, since this system only affects the way of calculating the regulatory basis to support the final amount to which we are entitled.

This system should not be confused with the “fictitious quotes“, which do allow the addition of non-contributed periods to complete the years necessary to access retirement. Situations such as childbirth, childcare or military service (the latter, only for early retirement) are examples of fictitious contributions that Social Security recognizes as contributed time for the purposes of accessing the pension.

Who cannot access gap integration

The integration of gaps is a mechanism designed mainly for workers in the General Social Security Regime, so it does not apply in the same way to all groups.

Self-employed workers (those who contribute under the RETA) are the main group that is excluded from this general rule. In your case, if there are months without activity, these periods are not automatically filled in as is the case in the General Regime. However, there is a very limited exception: the law contemplates the integration of contribution gaps during the six months following the termination of the benefit for cessation of activity.

The integration of gaps is also not applied in the following cases:

• Employees of the Special Agrarian System, for whom only the periods actually contributed are taken into account.
• Domestic employees, during the transitional period applicable until 2023, in the calculation of their permanent disability and retirement pensions.

A practical example

To understand it better, let’s use the following example. Ana has contributed for 30 years in total and, to calculate her pension, her last 25 years of contributions are taken into account. But, within that period, he spent 12 months without working or contributing. To calculate the amount of your pension, Social Security will not put “zero” in those 12 months, but instead will fill them with 100% of the minimum contribution base in force at that time. This prevents its regulatory base (the average of its contributions) from falling drastically.

Now, let’s think about Carlos, who is 67 years old and has only contributed 14 years throughout his life. In the last 25 years, you have had more than 60 months (5 years) without contributions. In this case, despite the fact that Social Security will fill in those empty gaps with fictitious bases to make the mathematical average, Carlos will not be able to retire, since the integration of gaps does not help him to add the real year he needs to meet the generic deficiency (the minimum requirement of 15 years of contributions to access the pension). The mechanism is only activated if you already have the right to the pension and its only function is to determine its amount. Nor would it help you meet the specific requirement (having at least 2 years of contributions in the last 15).