Social Security has a mechanism to protect the amount of the retirement pension when a worker has periods without contributing, which is the gap integration. In simple words, this system allows you to “fill in” the months in which there was no obligation to contribute within the pension calculation period.
The integration of gaps is regulated in article 209.1.b) of the General Social Security Law (which can be consulted in this BOE), where it is explained that it is a mechanism that is applied during the calculation of the pension to “fill in” the months in which there was no obligation to contribute. Now, we must understand that its purpose is not to add years to reach the minimum required to retire, but to protect the amount of the pension, preventing it from being reduced by these gaps in working life. That is, if we have been contributing for 13 years, Social Security will not add two years to access the pension, since this only affects the way of calculating the regulatory base or also as “100% of the pension to which one is entitled.”
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This system should not be confused with the “fictitious quotes“, which do allow the addition of non-contributed periods to complete the years necessary to access retirement. Situations such as childbirth, childcare or military service (the latter, only for early retirement) are examples of fictitious contributions that Social Security recognizes as contributed time for the purposes of accessing the pension.
How gap integration works
To understand how it works and its importance (especially for those with few years of contributions), you must first know how the pension is calculated. The amount depends on the regulatory base, which is obtained by adding the contribution bases of the last 25 years (300 months) and dividing the result by 350 (keep in mind that in 2026 the new dual system will enter, so it will change). In this calculation, the bases for the two years closest to retirement are taken at their nominal value, while the rest of the previous bases are updated for inflation to reflect their real value. To understand it, think that the 2,000 euros from 25 years ago are not worth the same as they are now, there is that “inflation effect”.
Thus, a “break” in contributions during those 25 years can reduce the average regulatory base and, therefore, the final pension. To mitigate this effect, Social Security “fills” these gaps in the following way:
- The first 48 monthly payments without obligation to contribute are completed with 100% of the minimum contribution base in force at that time.
- If there are more months without contributions, starting from month 49 they are filled with 50% of that same minimum base.
Now, it is important to explain that this rule was introduced by Law 27/2011, so to those who apply the previous legislation, all periods without contributions are integrated with 100% of the minimum base in force at all times.
Who cannot access gap integration
The integration of gaps is a mechanism designed mainly for workers in the General Social Security Regime, so it does not apply in the same way to all groups.
Self-employed workers (those who contribute under the RETA) are the main group that is largely excluded. In your case, if there are months without activity, these periods are not automatically filled in as is the case in the General Regime. However, there is a very limited exception: the law contemplates the integration of contribution gaps during the six months following the cessation of activity, but not as a general rule during their working life.
The integration of gaps is also not applied in the following cases:
- Employees of the Special Agrarian System, for whom only the periods actually contributed are taken into account.
- Domestic employees, during the transitional period until 2023, in the calculation of their permanent disability and retirement pensions.
A practical example
To understand it better, let’s use the following example. Ana has contributed for 30 years and to calculate her pension, her last 25 years of contributions are taken into account, but, within that period, she spent 12 months without working or contributing. To calculate the amount of your pension, Social Security will not put “zero” in those 12 months, but instead will fill them with 100% of the minimum contribution base in force at that time. This prevents its regulatory base (the average of its contributions) from falling drastically.
Now, let’s think about Carlos, who is 67 years old and has only contributed 14 years throughout his life. In the last 25 years, you have had more than 60 months (5 years) without contributions. In this case, even though the Security will fill in those empty gaps, you will not be able to retire, since the integration of gaps does not help you add the year you need to fulfill the generic deficiency (the minimum requirement of 15 years of contributions to access the pension). The mechanism is only activated if you already have the right to the pension and its only function is to determine its amount. Nor would it help you meet the specific requirement (having at least 2 years of contributions in the last 15).