Working and collecting a retirement pension in Spain is compatible, although not in general. Social Security foresees three cases in which it is possible to stabilize active labor and receive the public pension at the same time.
These are partial retirement, flexible retirement and active retirement. Of the three, only one allows you to collect 100% of the pension. What they all count are their own advantages and requirements.
What is partial retirement and who can opt for it?
It is the simplest formula to reconcile employment and retirement pension and is one of the most used by companies through the relief contract.
It works like a reduction in working hours. With partial retirement, you stop working for a few hours and collect the pension proportional to the time you are no longer employed. Specifically, the working day must be reduced between 25% and 50% in general and 75% in certain cases depending on whether or not a relief contract is made.
The minimum age to access partial retirement also depends on whether or not there is a relief contract. This type of employment contract is the one signed by the employee who will enter to replace and replace the hours that the partially retired person will no longer cover.
Without a relief contract, the ordinary retirement age will have to be reached, while with it the minimum age will be 60 years for mutual members and 62 years and 4 months for the rest. This age is increasing until reaching 63 years in 2027.
The conditions are also different in both cases. Without the relief contract, you only have to meet the requirements to collect the contributory pension. That is, having contributed for 15 years and two of them in the 15 prior to partial retirement.
With the relief contract, the contribution period increases and it is also necessary to prove a minimum of 6 years of seniority in the company.
What is flexible retirement?
This type of retirement with work allows a retiree to return to the labor market without losing the right to his pension.
The objective is to return to work after having retired, making the salary compatible with the retirement income. It also works part-time and can only be accessed by working as an employee. In other words, you cannot apply to start a business or work as a freelance.
The working day in this case may be between 25% and 50% of that of a comparable full-time worker. These employees are those who have the same type of contract and carry out work similar to the flexible retiree.
As in the previous case, the public pension will be reduced proportionally to the working day. In this way, 25% of the pension can be collected with a working day of 75% of the normal time, for example.
Retirees with flexible retirement will continue to contribute while they work and when they stop doing so they will return to collect their full pension, which will be recalculated by adding the new periods of contribution.
What is active retirement?
This modality is the one that allows you to enjoy the pension and work on your own or someone else’s account. It is the formula to undertake or work as a freelance professional and collect the pension. It also allows the retiree to have a full-time contract without limits.
In the case of employed workers, you may collect 50% of your pension, although without adding the supplement to the minimum while the pension is collected and you work at the same time.
For their part, the self-employed who have at least one hired worker will be able to collect 100% of the pension with active retirement.
In both cases, contributions will be made to Social Security. The self-employed will do so with their quota, which does not include discounts and employees with a reduced contribution of more than 8% for solidarity.
This formula for collecting the pension and working is the most beneficial, but also the strictest in terms of its conditions. Only those who have reached ordinary retirement age for more than one year will be able to take advantage of it and will be entitled to collect 100% of their regulatory base.
These are the three options for working and collecting a pension, each with its advantages and disadvantages.
