Social Security will limit all pensions that exceed the maximum pension set each year, either by collecting a single pension or several pensions at the same time. That is, for workers who access retirement, if after applying the calculation method it is above the maximum amount, Social Security will cut it until it is set at the established maximum limit. Additionally, if it is through early retirement, an extra reducing coefficient will be applied.
This is established in article 57 of the General Law of Social Security (can be consulted in this Official State Gazette), which establishes that “the initial amount of contributory Social Security pensions may not exceed the total monthly amount established annually by the corresponding General State Budget Law.” In other words and to understand it, you will never be able to exceed the maximum limit set by the Government for that year, whether collecting one or several pensions at the same time (for example, two retirement pensions or one retirement pension and another widow’s pension).
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In 2025, the maximum pension is set at 3,267.60 euros per month; annually, whether the pension is received in 12 or 14 payments, it cannot exceed 45,746.40 euros.
Requirements to collect the maximum pension
To collect the maximum pension in 2025, it is necessary to meet two conditions: the first, that it is necessary to have a salary whose contribution base is at least 3,816.20 euros per month for the last 25 years prior to retirement, since the regulatory base is the result of adding the last 300 bases and dividing the result by 350 (although other concepts come into play with the coefficient for the inflation effect or the integration of gaps among others).
On the other hand, you must have the necessary years of contributions to collect 100%. That is, during 2025 and 2026, you will have to be 36 years and six months of contributions and from 2027, you will have to be 37 years old, as established by Law 27/2011.
In the case of having fewer years of contributions, this 100% coefficient will drop and can be accessed, but it will be necessary to have a larger regulatory base (here you can consult the table of the pension you have left based on the years of contributions).
In the case of accessing early retirement it will not be possible, since Social Security applies what is known as “the double cut.” That is, on the one hand, whether voluntary or involuntary, a reducing coefficient will be applied, which can reach up to 30%. In the event that, although the resulting pension exceeds the maximum amount, a new coefficient will be applied, as established in the thirty-fourth transitional provision of Law 21/2021, which can be consulted in this Official State Gazette.
Practical example of how the pension would be cut
In this way, for example, if a worker retires, he or she receives 100% of his or her regulatory base, which is 4,200 euros. Social Security would cut 932.4 euros each month, which would also be applied to extra payments, so for the year it would be 13,053.6 euros.
Likewise, two pensions will be collected. For example, a woman who receives a permanent disability pension of 1,800 euros, but meets the requirements to collect a second retirement pension of 1,500 euros, the sum would be 3,300 euros, so Social Security would cut 32.4 euros on each payroll.
The only way to exceed the maximum pension
The main ways to exceed the maximum pension are through the supplement to reduce the gender gap in pensions and delayed retirement, although the latter has nuances.
The gender gap supplement is an amount that is added to the pension for each child, up to a limit of four, and is not capped. The General Social Security Law explains that this “supplement is not taken into account in the application of the maximum limit of contributory pensions or to determine the supplement for pensions lower than the minimum.” That is, the maximum limit may be exceeded.
In the case of delayed retirement (that which occurs beyond the ordinary age) it is allowed to collect above the maximum limit, although not through the monthly pension. For example, if your calculated pension already reaches the maximum legal limit, the 4% supplement for each year that you delay retirement is not added to your monthly payment; Instead, you can choose between receiving a single lump sum payment when you retire or an additional annual amount paid alongside your maximum pension. In this way, although your monthly pension does not exceed the limit, your total annual income as a pensioner will be higher than said limit.