From January 1, 2026, workers who access voluntary early retirement and whose resulting pension is higher than the maximum pension They suffer an additional cut that in some cases can reach up to 400 euros per month. To avoid this strong “penalty”, the Government introduced Transitional Provision 34 of the General Social Security Law, which comes due to the second pension reform and regulated in Law 27/2011, although this was temporary. In recent weeks, there has been great confusion about the possibility of the Government backing down. Alfonso Muñoz Cuenca, a Social Security official, explains that today what the law says is still being applied and is not available, which causes the cuts to be more severe.
“To this day, Social Security officials have no evidence that transitional provision 34 has been restored,” he warns on his YouTube channel. Muñoz also adds that he himself verified it first-hand: “Yesterday I produced a retirement information for a person and the simulator applied the general reducing coefficients on the maximum pension and, therefore, did not apply the specific coefficients of the transitional provision 34.”
What did the DT34 do and why does the ministry consider it exhausted?
Transitional Provision 34 of the LGSS, introduced by the Law 21/2021established specific reducing coefficients that were more favorable than the general ones for voluntary early retirement when the worker’s theoretical pension exceeded the maximum pension (the calculation method is applied and, if the resulting pension is above the maximum, this cut is applied). These new coefficients were applied progressively over ten years. The mechanism was designed so as not to punish the same worker twice: once for reaching the maximum limit of the amount and another for advancing in age.
But the rule itself had a built-in extinction mechanism. “In the first section of said provision it was established that if specific circumstances were met, said reducing coefficients would cease to be applied and the general coefficients on the maximum pension would be applied,” details Muñoz Cuenca.
The key is in that first section. “The ministry understands that these circumstances have already occurred and, therefore, considers that from January 1, 2026, the reducing coefficients of said transitional provision should not be applied.” DT34 has not been formally repealed.
Up to 400 euros less per month
In fact, Alfonso already showed an example of this, where a worker who voluntarily retires two years before the ordinary age and who proves 38 years of contributions saw in 2025, with the DT34 active, a reduction of 9.10% on the maximum pension (specifically, 305.69 euros per month), which left the pension at 3,053.93 euros. From January 2026, without the DT34, the general coefficients of article 208 of the LGSS are applied, the reduction rises to 21%, which represents a cut of 705.52 euros per month. The pension falls to 2,654.08 euros. This implies a loss of 399.85 euros per month, about 5,600 euros per year.
“This has caused in some cases a fairly abrupt cut in the pension, which can be approximately 400 euros per month,” Muñoz Cuenca himself acknowledges. And an important nuance that circulates distorted in some articles: the new calculation is not more gradual or smoother. It’s exactly the opposite. The DT34 was precisely the one that established the most favorable regime, and its absence is what generates the cut.
Who is left out of this cut?
DT34 exclusively affected voluntary early retirement, that is, those who decide to retire before the ordinary age by their own decision. Those who agreed to early retirement for reasons beyond their control (collective dismissal, objective termination, company closure) are governed by much lower coefficients, being a 0.50% reduction per quarter in advance (compared to 2% in the voluntary route), with a maximum total cut of 4% in eight quarters, compared to the 705 euros per month in the previous example.
Furthermore, favorable coefficients are maintained by those who meet two specific conditions. On the one hand, workers whose contract was terminated before January 1, 2022 without subsequent reinstatement of more than twelve months of contributions. On the other hand, employees whose dismissal resulted from an employment regulation file approved before January 1, 2022.
If the Government changes its position, it would need to modify the rule itself
Given the avalanche of queries from those affected, Muñoz Cuenca says that “to the question of whether transitional provision 34 has been restored, the answer is that as of today, no,” he says. But he adds a technical fact that explains why going back would not be as simple as approving a decree: “In order for these reducing coefficients to be applied again, the first section of said provision would possibly have to be deleted or modified, because it is precisely in that section where it is indicated that these coefficients should not be applied whenever certain circumstances occur.”
Social Security officials have no evidence, therefore, that Transitional Provision 34 has been restored. The official simulator continues to calculate pensions without it, and until there is a formal regulatory modification, workers who voluntarily retire before the legal age with a theoretical pension above the maximum will continue to see the general coefficients of article 208 of the General Social Security Law applied.