The ordinary retirement age is the one that allows workers to retire from the labor market without their pension being cut, although they can also delay it to be entitled to a larger amount, since in most cases the pension will replace the salary as a source of income.
This modality is known as delayed retirement, which is what occurs after reaching the ordinary age and which Social Security rewards with 4% more pension for each full year of contributions, with a single payment or with a mixture of the two.
According to Social Security statistics during 2026 (with data up to the month of September) there were 32,357 delayed retirements, 11.5% of new ones, when in 2019, before Law 21/2021 improved the incentives to delay retirement, they were 4.8%.
Delayed retirement is regulated in article 210.2 of the General Social Security Law (can be consulted at this BOE link), which explains that, when someone retires after the ordinary age and at that age they already have the 15 years of contributions required by the pension (two of them within the last 15), the interested party will be recognized “an economic supplement.” This “extra” can be collected in three ways, which are chosen only once when requesting the pension:
- 4% more for each full year of contributions between the date on which the ordinary age was reached and that of retirement, which is added to the percentage of the regulatory base (with 2,000 euros and 100%, it is 80 euros more per month for each year) and is the option that is applied if no other is chosen.
- A single payment for each year, which depends on the initial pension and the years of contributions when reaching the ordinary age, and which is 10% higher with 44 years and 6 months of contributions or more.
- A combination of the two to those who have contributed at least two full years after the ordinary age, with a calculation that changed on August 28 as stated in Royal Decree 416/2026.
However, during the first two years only full years are counted. Once the second full year of delay has been completed, the law also allows periods of more than six months and less than one year to be added, so that each of them adds 2% more pension or, if the single payment was chosen, half the amount that corresponds to one year.
The supplement cannot be applied to partial or flexible retirement (collecting part of the pension while working part-time or, since August 28, self-employed), and periods without work in a situation similar to discharge, such as unemployment or special agreement, will not be counted as a delay. Yes, it can be made compatible with active retirement, although while working and receiving the pension at the same time the supplement stops growing.
From 65 or from 67, depending on what is quoted
The delay begins to count when the requirements for ordinary retirement are met, and since 2013 there are two ages depending on the years of contributions. The 2011 pension reform (Law 27/2011) was delaying between 2013 and 2027 the age of those who do not reach a minimum career, which has also been increasing, and 2027 is the last year of that calendar.
In 2027, according to the seventh transitional provision of the General Social Security Law, the ordinary age will be:
- 65 years for workers who have a minimum of 38 years and 6 months of contributions or more.
- 67 years for those who do not reach that degree, although if they complete it between 65 and 67, the delay counts from that day.
Above the maximum when the top is already reached
In the event that the pension already reaches the maximum without applying that 4%, Social Security pays it separately, in 14 payments, applying to the limit, as stated in article 210.2, “the additional percentage not used”, with the only limit that the sum does not exceed the maximum contribution base of one year.
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The maximum pension planned for 2027 would be approximately 3,481 euros, if we take into account that experts such as Funcas foresee a revaluation of 3.5% plus the 0.115 points that must increase as regulated by Royal Decree-Law 2/2023, so, with two years of delay and the pension at the cap, almost 280 euros more could be collected, about 3,760 euros per month.