The Council of Ministers confirmed last week that forest firefighters will be able to benefit from reducing coefficients to advance the retirement age due to the danger of their profession, that is, they can retire early without suffering cuts in the amount of the pension. Now, with the arrival of this rule, many wonder how those cuts will work or how many years may they advance their withdrawal.
To understand this context you have to know that, as a general rule, all workers who decide to access early retirement either voluntary or involuntary suffer cuts in the amount. These can range from 0.50% and up to 30% depending on accumulated contributions (total years worked) throughout working life and the months that its withdrawal with respect to their ordinary age.
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Table with pension reducing coefficients by voluntary and involuntary anticipated retirement in 2026
Retirees explode against Social Security against Europe: “After having contributed 40, 45 or 47 years they submit to reducing coefficients that apply for a lifetime”
But, the public system of social security pensions is so dynamic and flexible that it allows to adapt retirement based on the personal and labor circumstances of each worker. Thus, in the case of works considered as “painful, toxic, dangerous or unhealthy” social security allows the age of retirement to be advanced without the amount of the pension suffering cuts.
How to work early retirement for forest firefighters
The early retirement for forest firefighters will be applied to the same standard that firefighters already have, that is, the one regulated by Royal Decree 383/200. In this way, article 2 of the standard says that the ordinary age of firefighters will be that of the 65 years, but that this will be reduced by 0.20 for each year worked, provided that at least 15 years quoted in the profession are credited.
Now, there are some stops, and they may advance their ordinary age for a maximum of 5 years, that is, they can retire in advance at age 60, with the exception of being able to withdraw at age 59, provided that they accredit a total of 35 years or more of effective contribution in the activity.
In addition, the reduction time will compute as quoted for the purpose of calculating the pension. That is, it will compute as quoted, but they will not be used to increase the amount of the pension or to reduce it.
Now, as established by Royal Decree 383/2008, the service time will be calculated in a special way for the early retirement of firefighters. When computing the years worked to apply the reducing coefficient, all labor absences will be deducted, except:
- The casualties due to illness (common or professional) or accident (work or not).
- The suspensions of contract for maternity, paternity, adoption, foster care, or risk during pregnancy or natural breastfeeding.
- The absences authorized with the right to compensation.
A change that meets a previous commitment
With this measure, the government responds to a commitment that the Government had already acquired with forest firefighters. The objective was clear: to equate their retirement conditions with which the rest of the firefighters already enjoyed at the service of public administrations.
In fact, the Basic Law of Forest Firefighters, which was approved at the end of 2024, under Organic Law 5/2004, already laid the foundations for this change. Its fourth additional provision set a period of year since the entry into force of the law, which was on November 8, 2024 (can be consulted in this BOE) to adopt “the necessary measures for recognition of all the time worked in the activity of surveillance and extinction of forest fires for the granting of reducing coefficients.”