In 2026, workers who decide to retire and have more than 36 years and six months of contributions must know that Social Security will not add these surplus contributions to exceed 100% of the pension. This rule, included in Law 27/2011, which corresponds to the first major pension reform in which the current calculation method was established (which will change to the dual system in 2026), as well as the legal ordinary retirement age.
The amount of the retirement pension depends mainly on two factors, which are the contribution bases and the total number of years contributed or worked. The contribution bases act to determine what is known as the regulatory base, which is, to understand it, 100% of the retirement pension to which one is entitled based on the years of contributions.
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100% of the pension is obtained at 36 years and six months
On the other hand, contributions serve to determine what percentage of the pension corresponds. At 15 years of age, which is the minimum to access the pension, you are entitled and from then on, for each month you contribute more, Social Security will add a small percentage. Thus, for each additional month contributed during the next 49 months, 0.21% is added to the regulatory base. Subsequently, 0.19% is added for each of the following 209 months.
In this way, with 36 years and six months of contributions you will be entitled to 100% pension (in 2027 it will change and 37 years will be necessary, according to Law 27/2011). Now, from there, having more years of contributions will not serve to add more percentage to the regulatory base, unless we opt for a delayed retirement, that is, retiring beyond the retirement age.
Therefore, those who have been contributing for 40 years or more and decide to retire at retirement age will, so to speak, see a “punishment,” since those contributions will not be taken into account, unless they use them to improve their ordinary retirement age and retire at 65 years of age.
Practical example
To understand it we are going to use the following example. Manuel is a worker who has 36 years and six months of contributions and decides to retire at the ordinary retirement age, which in 2026 will be 66 years and 10 months. When you retire you will receive 100%, since you have done so at your ordinary age and have the necessary contributions to receive the full pension.
Now, let’s think that Manuel has 40 or 50 years of contributions and decides to retire at his ordinary age. In this case the age would be 65 years, for which you would see an improvement, but you will continue to receive 100%, since you continue to retire at your ordinary age.
Exceptions to collect more than 100% of the pension
The General Social Security Law only contemplates two ways to collect more than 100%, which are to delay retirement beyond the ordinary age or to collect the gender gap supplement. In the case of delaying the age, workers may opt for a single payment for each year of contributions, add an additional percentage of 4% for each full year of contributions after reaching the ordinary age or a third option that is a mix of both.
The other way is through a supplement to reduce the gender gap. It is an economic amount that is added to the amount of the retirement pension and that seeks to compensate for the damage to the professional careers of those workers who would have had to care for their children and could not contribute during those years.