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The Council of Ministers, at its meeting on Tuesday, approved the Royal Decree that regulates the flexible retirement. That is, the one that allows you to collect part of the pension while working part-time. The objective is to make it easier for retired people to remain active without ceasing to collect their retirement pension so that active aging and permanence in the labor market are promoted.
The RD will come into force three months after it is published in the BOE and the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has defended that the purpose is for workers to have “more and better options” when it comes to retiring or remaining active.
What is flexible retirement?
A retiree almost lost his pension and had to pay a fine of 19,000 euros for helping his cousin for a few hours at the fishmonger
One of the most important developments is that flexible retirement will not be limited only to part-time employment. Self-employed persons may benefit from this modality..
Social Security has a requirement for self-employed workers and that is that those who have not been registered in the RETA during the three years prior to their retirement date will be able to access it. In these cases, up to 25% of the benefit may be charged while the compatible activity is carried out.
There will be no minimum waiting period after retirement
One of the most important innovations presented by Saiz is that it will not be necessary to wait a minimum period from retirement to request flexible retirement. That is, the pensioner may request it at any time once the right to collect the contributory retirement pension has been recognized.
Change of working hours compatible with pension
When retirees want to return to part-time employment, the permitted working hours are extended. Until this moment, the retiree could work a working day between 25% and 75% and with the new standard, the compatible working day will be between 33% and 80%, compared to that of a full-time worker.
The pension will decrease in the opposite way to the reduction in working hours, but the Royal Decree has incentives to improve the money that the beneficiary will receive. Those who work part-time between 55% and 80% will see their pension amount increased by 25%. But if the working day is equal to or greater than 33% but less than 55%, the increase will be an additional 15%.
During this flexible retirement period, the worker will continue to have pensioner status for the purposes of health care and social protection. The RD contemplates an improvement for those who retired early involuntarily. When they return to full retirement after going through the flexible one, they will be able to see their initial pension improved after recalculating the regulatory base and the applicable percentage according to the contribution period that has been credited.
Who will be beneficiaries of flexible retirement
The new regulation will apply to all Social Security regimes with exceptions such as civil servants of the State, the Armed Forces and personnel serving the Administration of Justice.
Regarding delayed retirement, the Government highlights that the measures that are being applied continue to gain weight. According to data made public by the Ministry of Social Security, workers who decide to delay retirement beyond the ordinary age have gone from 4.8% in 2021 to 10.9% in 2025. So far in 2026, 12% of those registered have already been exceeded with 15,600 more delayed retirements than in the entire year 2021.
On the other hand, the number of early retirements has decreased, going from over 43% in 2018 to around 30% currently.