Pediatricians and primary care and family retirement doctors of an age that are attached to the National Health System have known for weeks that they can opt for improved active retirement if they want to combine 75% of their pension with a paid professional reactivation that is near three years. Last December, the Government of Spain showed in the last Council of Ministers this new formula that has been implemented in 2023 and, since then, there are many doubts that arise in this regard, such as, for example, if this can be made compatible with medical leave.
The objective of the Executive with this measure is to combat the “pressing” shortage of physicians, but improved active retirement may only be requested by those who meet a series of requirements. The main one is that it is addressed only to professionals who are part of the National Health System, either by statutory appointment or as civil servants, who may receive 75% of their pension and a salary corresponding to a 50% working day.
This model is added to those of active, partial and flexible retirement that have been regulated since 2013, and that also allow comparing the retirement pension with the service. The difference is that the improved active retirement is a pioneering project that is incorporated to strengthen, in particular, primary care, after the impact it has suffered in recent years.
Is the leave compatible with the enhanced active retirement?
In order to access enhanced active retirement, pediatricians and primary and family care physicians must meet several requirements, such as having retired as of January 1, 2022 or having previously accepted compatibility with the same type of recency. in the standard approved in May 2021 due to the covid emergency. But that’s not all, since they cannot have applied for retirement before the stipulated age, and they will have to carry out their work in the public sector, where they have to be discharged and discharged under the same conditions as other workers.
Healthcare professionals who are close to the time of their retirement, but are on sick leave, may doubt whether or not it is possible to make it compatible with enhanced active retirement. The answer is yes, although with conditions. In fact, employees who find themselves in this situation continue to contribute to Social Security, which is why they have for their pension.
Therefore, the retirement pension can be collected at the same time as the benefit derived from temporary or permanent disability, as long as the cause of the illness of the latter is work-related. However, they will not have access if the permanent disability results from common contingencies.
Requirements to collect the retirement status pension
The requirements to apply for enhanced active retirement when you are on medical leave do not vary, except in the case of permanent disability. In such a case, the benefits to which you are entitled may be exhausted.
Thus, it is necessary to have reached the legal retirement age in Spain that applies from January 1, 2023 -66 years and four months- or to have reached 65 years and have contributed more than 37 years and nine or more months to Social Security.
To request the improved active retirement state of medical leave, the steps to follow are not modified either, since the request must be made through the National Institute of Social Security. What does change is that, depending on the type of leave, the documentation that must be delivered varies.
