The Superior Court of Justice of the Valencian Community has confirmed that an unemployed woman must return 14,737.83 euros of the subsidy for those over 52 years of age, which she collected since 2016 without counting the SEPE (State Public Employment Service) who in 2014 had retired early in Peru. Without the years contributed there, it would not reach the 15 that the aid requests, and if the figure is not higher it is because a good part of what was collected had already expired.
According to what NoticiasTrabajo has had access to (in this link from the Judicial Branch), since February 4, 2016, the woman was receiving the subsidy for those over 52 years of age (then, 55). When he requested retirement, Social Security denied it in August 2023 for not having contributed for long enough, and when reviewing his career in Peru it appeared that he had retired early there in December 2014, with contributions of which he managed to withdraw 95.5%.
To receive this subsidy, age and not having income are not enough, since according to article 280 of the General Social Security Law, it is required to already meet upon request “all the requirements, except age, to access any type of contributory retirement pension”, that is, to have contributed for 15 years, with two of them within the last 15.
In this way, the SEPE withdrew his subsidy in March 2024 and claimed what was collected between February 6, 2020 and November 17, 2022. According to the breakdown of the sentence, between 2016 and the beginning of 2020 he had collected another 20,879.20 euros, but that part could no longer be requested from him, since the obligation to return a benefit expires after four years from its collection (article 55.3 of the same law) and the SEPE opened the file on February 6, 2024. The woman asked to pay it in installments in June 2024, but nothing was received, and in March 2025 the debt was transferred to Social Security for forced collection.
That the SEPE could withdraw the aid and claim the money on its own, without first going through a judge, is explained by the reason, since article 146 of the labor procedural law allows it when the review is due to “omissions or inaccuracies in the beneficiary’s statements”, even if more than a year has passed since the aid was approved.
The debt arises from what you did not count when asking for help
The Social Court number 4 of Castellón rejected her claim in June 2025, and she requested in the appeal that the refund begin to count from October 6, 2021, the date on which she requested the withdrawal of her Peruvian pension.
The TSJ rejects it first due to the form, because it did not indicate which rule the court had misapplied, and concludes that “the reason for legal censure is missing, so that the appeal must necessarily be dismissed.”
The Chamber does not agree with him either, since the aid was withdrawn because he could not retire in Spain, “due to the contributions that now cannot be counted towards his retirement”, and “without the return of the undue payment having to do with the benefit he receives in Peru.” The subsidy did not correspond to her from the first day, since it was granted “based on inaccuracies and lack of communication” by the beneficiary.
Can my subsidy for people over 52 years of age be seized?
The SEPE removes the subsidy for those over 52 years of age from a man who traveled abroad several times without warning but the Justice orders that it be returned to him
Another thing is when the error is from the SEPE. The TSJ of Catalonia freed another unemployed woman from returning 8,781.59 euros of the same subsidy because the body did not consult her work life before approving it and she did not hide anything, while here the aid was approved without information that only the beneficiary knew.