Early retirement allows you to stop working before reaching the ordinary retirement age but, in exchange for this advantage, Social Security applies reducing coefficients on the pension depending on how long the retirement takes place and how many years of contributions the applicant has.
There are many retirees affected and who see this as a great injustice, which is why they have been calling for an end to these penalties for long retirement careers for some time. A demand that finally reached the Congress of Deputies this year and that last September took a step forward with the admission for processing by the Government of the Podemos law proposal to eliminate the reducing coefficients in early retirement with 40 or more years of contributions.
One of those affected is Mercedes Boils, who retired early at age 61 having already contributed 43 years but whose pension is affected by a reducing coefficient of 24%. His case has been made known by the Asjubi40 association, in which many pensioners who suffer these cuts in their pension due to retiring early are demonstrating to eliminate the reducing coefficients in the pension once and for all.
“I had to retire, but necessarily”
“You’ll think I’m very lucky. But no, that’s not the case,” Mercedes begins when explaining her case. “I’ve been contributing for 43 years,” she points out, although she assures that in reality she worked for longer: “Well, in reality it’s 45, but there are companies that forgot to contribute for you. But that’s another story.”
His access to retirement came after becoming unemployed. “I retired at 61 because I was collecting unemployment benefits for those over 52,” he explains. When he reached that age and met the necessary conditions, he made the decision to retire. But he insists it wasn’t a choice he made because he wanted to stop working sooner.
“When I reached 61, as I had the conditions, I had to retire, but necessarily.” The reason? “I didn’t have anything to eat.”
“They are penalizing me with 24%”
The result was a reduction that Mercedes continues to bear in her pension. “They are penalizing me with 24%,” he laments.
According to their own calculations, this reduction represents around 6,000 euros per year. Mercedes expresses it much more forcefully and assures that the State “’steals’ 6,000 euros” from her every year, a personal assessment with which she shows her rejection of the system of reducing coefficients.
The pensioner also remembers that for a good part of her professional career she had high contribution bases. “I’m talking about 45 years, in many moments with a maximum contribution base,” he points out before asking a question: “Where is all the money we have contributed?”
Your situation is not unique. According to data from January 2026 sent by the Government to Congress and cited in the source information, around 13% of retirees suffer a penalty despite having contributed for more than 40 years, which would mean more than 870,000 people.
Precisely for this reason Asjubi40 calls for eliminating these coefficients for those who accumulate contribution careers of four decades or more.
Ignacio Solsona, lawyer: “If before the end of the year you can request an early retirement under good conditions, go ahead, but do not make a hasty decision for fear of a future change that we do not even know if it will come”
Maribel Doctor, pensioner with 44 and a half years of contributions: “They unfairly cut my pension every month”
Mercedes believes that after all those years working, the cutback should not accompany her during the rest of her retirement: “This situation cannot continue. That’s why we are going to continue fighting.”