The Foundation for Applied Economics Studies (Fedea) has warned that the gateway that will allow alternative mutualists to join the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) presents “problems of equity and uncertainties” about the consequences it could have for workers, Social Security and the mutual societies themselves.
This is what comes to light from the study prepared by researchers from the University of Valencia and the University of Extremadura and which has been published by Fedea, which analyzes how this mechanism will work after the approval of Law 2/2026. The rule will give the possibility to alternative mutualists to switch to RETA voluntarily and irreversibly, thus transferring all the funds they have accumulated in their mutuality.
However, the researchers warn that there are still important issues to be resolved and consider that the model designed so far may be “not equitable”, both in comparison with current self-employed workers and among the mutualists themselves. Due to these problems that the new system poses, The mutualists themselves demonstrated last Saturday, October 17 in Madriddemanding that the Government listen to them before setting the final conditions of the walkway.
The authors explain that the effects of this measure will not be known precisely until the final regulation is approved, scheduled for November 2026, where the coefficients and access conditions must be specified.
Fedea warns of a possible extra cost for mutual members who switch to RETA
One of the main problems detected is in the so-called “improvement coefficient”, a conversion factor whose value will be between 0.67 and 0.87 and which will be used to calculate the funds necessary to recognize the contribution periods.
According to the study, after analyzing the historical spending of Social Security, the researchers calculate that only 56.84% of RETA contributions are actually used to finance retirement pensions, while the rest covers other contingencies.
For this reason, they consider that the system establishes a conversion factor higher than that which exists in practice within the RETA, which implies a greater financial requirement for each year of contribution recognized.
However, Fedea also recognizes that joining the public system offers advantages, such as the right to pension revaluation and access to a minimum pension. Therefore, the change does not have to be beneficial for all mutual members, who will have to study their particular situation when the definitive conditions are known.
The “1 for 1 rule” can also make pension differences larger
The second problem that is detected is closely related to what is known as the “1 for 1 rule”, through which one year of contributions in a mutual society is or is equal to one year in the RETA, although it only serves to calculate the pension percentage for the years contributed and not to calculate the regulatory base.
This advantage will only apply to those who began their activity before November 10, 1995 or are 52 years old or older as of December 31, 2026.
Researchers warn that being left out of these requirements for a single day could significantly modify the final pension.
Furthermore, Fedea questions that it is still not clear how the contributions will be updated with inflation and defends using the historical CPI to correctly express the amounts.
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Finally, the study indicates that the gateway will increase Social Security income in the short term, although it will also mean greater future spending on pensions. Mutual societies, for their part, could face financial risks if they have to transfer accumulated funds too quickly.