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The Executive formalized last Wednesday through the Official State Gazette (BOE) a significant reform of the early retirement system, agreed with unions and employer. The objective: allow a greater number of workers of dangerous or very demanding professions to withdraw before the legal age – between 65 and 67 years, according to quotation- without seeing your pension reduced.

The Royal Decree was approved in the last Council of Ministers and It will enter into force on June 17. This new regulation is mainly directed to those sectors where working conditions imply a high physical or mental cost for employees, which can lead to permanent health problems.

What changes with the reform?

Until now, The early retirement was reserved for very specific groups and under strict conditions. With this reform, the system is flexible, opening the door to more professions that can justify its danger or hardness through objective indicators. The standard establishes three key criteria:

• The frequency and duration of medical casualties,
• The number of permanent disability cases,
• And the mortality associated with the exercise of that activity.

Who can retire before?

The norm does not automatically establish which professions will obtain this right. It will be social security, either on your own initiative or request for unions and employers, who evaluates each specific case. For this, technical reports based on the aforementioned indicators will be prepared.

The workers of the sectors recognized as of special danger must prove at least 15 years of experience in the same and be active when reaching the new anticipated retirement age to be fixed.

At the moment, some guilds have already announced their intention to request access, such as construction, road transport or floor waitresses. Today, professions that already have this benefit include:

• Miners
• Firefighters
• Regional and local police
• Flight staff
• Railway workers
• Artists and bullfighters

At what age can they retire?

The exact age will depend on the technical reports prepared for each sector. Some groups, such as construction, propose to retire at age 60, although the Government establishes that no one can retire before 52 years.

How is it request and how long does the process take?

The request for recognition must be processed by the most representative business or union organizations in the sector. In the case of activities with a high number of freelancers, associations such as ATA, UPTA or UATAE may do so. Individual applications will not be admitted.

In addition, there must be a consensus between employer and workers, since affected companies must assume additional overwhelming as part of the process. If there is no agreement, the application will not be able to continue.

Once presented, the administration has a period of six months to pronounce. If it does not respond at that time, it will be considered denied by administrative silence.

Next steps

Although the decree enters into force on June 17, The incorporation of new professions into the catalog may not materialize until the end of 2025. As of that date, the interested sectors may begin to submit their formal applications.

This reform represents an advance towards a more fair pension system, adapted to the labor reality of thousands of workers who perform their functions in especially hard conditions.