Workers with a degree of disability equal to or greater than 65% can advance their retirement, depending on the years worked with the recognized disability, up to age 52, and those who have a degree equal to or greater than 45% recognized along with a specific pathology retire directly at age 56, without a reducing coefficient being applied to the pension in either case. It is the only type of early retirement that advances the legal age without reducing the amount. It is regulated by Royal Decree 1539/2003 for the 65% level and Royal Decree 1851/2009, modified by Royal Decree 370/2023, for the 45% level.
The philosophy of both standards is to compensate for the shorter life expectancy or greater labor hardship endured by a person with a recognized disability. Instead of imposing a reducing coefficient as in voluntary or involuntary early retirement, the legislator allows years of contributions to be deducted from the legal age until a new ordinary age is established for that worker. The rest of the calculation (regulatory base, percentage for years contributed, supplement to minimums) works the same as in ordinary retirement.
How does early retirement work with 65% disability?
Royal Decree 1539/2003 applies to employed workers of the General Regime, the Special Regimes of the Sea, Coal Mining and Agriculture who prove a recognized degree of disability equal to or greater than 65% during a period actually worked. Since the reform of article 206 bis of the General Social Security Law (LGSS), it also extends to the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA).
The mechanism is a reduction in the legal age in proportion to the time worked with an accredited disability. Two coefficients are applied:
- 0.25 for each year worked with a disability ≥65%
- 0.50 for each year worked with a disability ≥65% when the need for the assistance of another person for the essential acts of life is proven (recognized dependency)
A worker who has contributed for 20 years with a 65% recognized disability will have 5 years deducted from his legal age (20 x 0.25). If the dependency situation is also recognized, it would be 10 years (20 x 0.50). The minimum age to retire with this route is 52 years.
What requirements does early retirement with 65% require?
To access the modality regulated by RD 1539/2003, four simultaneous conditions are required:
- Degree of disability equal to or greater than 65% recognized by the competent body of the autonomous community
- Prove that the disability existed during the time worked that you want to deduct (it is not enough to have it at the time of requesting the pension)
- General grace period of 15 years of contributions, two of them within the 15 years prior to the causative event
- Minimum effective age of 52 years when applying for retirement
When they are met, the pension is calculated the same as in ordinary retirement, without a reducing coefficient: the percentage applicable to the regulatory base corresponds to the years of contributions and the rest of the rules work as if the person had waited until age 65.
How does early retirement work with 45% disability?
Royal Decree 1851/2009 is more restrictive, since it is not enough to have the degree recognized; you must also suffer from one of the pathologies included in the Annex to the standard, which includes diseases that are usually accompanied by proven reductions in life expectancy or functional level (Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, post-traumatic polio sequelae and others).
Unlike the 65% assumption, here there is no reducing coefficient proportional to the years worked. The standard establishes a single minimum age of 56 years: the worker who meets all the requirements accesses that age without additional calculation, as if that were his or her ordinary retirement age.
What requirements does early retirement with 45% require?
The requirements to access this type of retirement are included in the reform of RD 370/2023 and are the following:
- Degree of disability equal to or greater than 45% recognized by a competent body
- Suffering from one of the pathologies listed in the Annex to RD 1851/2009
- Prove that for at least 5 years immediately after retirement you worked with the disability and pathology
- Prove that the pathology has been suffered during the period of 15 years required for the general deficiency
- Grace period of 15 years of contributions, the last 2 within the 15 years prior to the causative event
The 2023 reform reduced the requirement for documentary accreditation of the entire working life to 5 years, although the illness must have been present during the entire period. It is an important nuance: it lightens the evidentiary burden without opening its hand with the substantive requirement.
Is any reduction coefficient applied to the pension?
No. It is the distinctive characteristic of these two modalities compared to ordinary early retirement. Even if the person retires at age 52, 56 or 60, the INSS calculates the pension as if they had retired at the legal age, applying the corresponding percentage for the years of contributions.
To understand it, let’s take an example in which a worker with 30 years of contributions, a disability of 65% and a regulatory base of 1,700 euros retires at age 55 (10 years less than the legal age). He receives 85.18% of the regulatory base for his 30 years, that is, around 1,448 euros per month, exactly the same pension as if he had waited. In any other type of advance payment, the cut would be around 20% or more, and the pension would be below 1,200 euros.
What happens to the years discounted for contribution purposes?
The years that are discounted by the reducing coefficient are computed as contributions for the purposes of determining the percentage applicable to the regulatory base. That is, the worker not only advances his age, but also those years are attributed to him as if he had worked them. This assimilation is included in article 5 of RD 1539/2003 and in article 7 of RD 1851/2009.
Assimilation only operates for the purposes of percentage, not lack. The minimum 15 years required to be entitled to a pension must be actually contributed.
Can it be combined with delayed retirement or active retirement?
Early disability retirement cannot be combined with active retirement. Article 214.1 of the LGSS requires having reached the ordinary age of article 205.1.a) to make pension and work compatible, a requirement that this modality does not meet by allowing retirement at 52 or 56 years of age. The delay supplement of article 210.2 does not apply either, since article 206 bis.2 itself expressly excludes access to these benefits for those who take advantage of this route.
It is not compatible with partial retirement, which requires a replacement contract and reaching the ordinary early age of 63 years, incompatible with the thresholds of 52 or 56 years for early retirement due to disability.
How is disability accredited for contribution purposes?
To prove the disability, the worker must provide Social Security with the following documents:
- Resolution recognizing the degree of disability issued by the IMSERSO or the competent body of the autonomous community, with the effective date
- Medical report certifying the pathology included in the Annex (only for RD 1851/2009, that is, early retirement due to disability equal to or greater than 45%)
- Work life report with the periods worked coinciding with the recognized disability
- Dependency resolution, if you claim the 0.50 coefficient
The date of effect of the degree is decisive: only the years worked after recognition are computed for the purposes of the coefficient. If the worker has had the degree recognized since 2005 and began contributing in 1998, only the years since 2005 count for the discount.
How to apply?
The application is processed at the National Social Security Institute (INSS), preferably through the Social Security electronic headquarters with a digital certificate, Cl@ve or Cl@ve Móvil.
Once the application is submitted, Social Security has a maximum period of 90 days to resolve. If the file is complicated by the need to verify the pathology or the temporal coincidence between disability and contributions, you can request additional reports from the Disability Assessment Team (EVI). Administrative silence is negative, so if 90 days pass without a response, the request is considered rejected and the procedure for prior claims is opened.