The last decade has been a decade of change for the Spanish pension system through different reforms whose effects are still being felt. In fact, new changes will be implemented for next year that are only part of a roadmap that will, at least, extend for several more years.
Unlike this 2022, which came charged as a result of the first leg of the ‘Escrivá reform’ that modified the revaluation of pensions and early retirement, the main novelties for 2023 will come from a previous reform, that of 2011. This reform was reflected in Law 27/2011, of August 1, aimed at increasing the ordinary retirement age and increasing contribution periods in order to calculate the amount of pensions.
The text, which can be consulted at , contemplates a progressive calendar by which, since 2013, the ordinary retirement age has been delayed and establishing a contribution limit that, if not met, delays the retirement age beyond the 65 years.
That is the first change that will come in 2023: as of January 1, the ordinary retirement age will be 66 years and four months for people who do not reach a contribution of 37 years and nine months. This represents a two-month increase in the retirement age and a three-month rise in the reference price. Workers who meet this contribution will maintain a retirement age of 65 years.
The objective of the rule contemplates the end of this progressive calendar in 2027, the date on which the retirement age will reach 67 years for people who do not have 38 years and six months of contributions. Those who do comply will have an ordinary retirement age of 65 years.
The next change for 2023 has to do with the . This method obliges the worker to contribute a specific number of years to be entitled to collect 100% of his regulatory base and also evolves according to a progressive calendar that means that, for the next year, the time needed to reach that 100 increases. % of the regulatory base, which is known colloquially as ‘100% of the pension’.
From January 1, a worker will need to have contributed for at least 36 and a half years to reach 100% of the regulatory base, half a year more than in the 2020-2022 period, which requires 36 years. This is achieved by reducing the speed with which the worker obtains the extra percentages of the regulatory base in each additional month of contribution from the age of 15:
-For each of the following 49 months (in 2022 there are 106) an extra 0.21% of the regulatory base is obtained.
-For each of the following 209 months (in 2022 there are 146) an extra 0.19% of the regulatory base is obtained.
Other possible pension changes for 2023
Another possible change remains in the wire: the extension of the number of years that are taken into account for the calculation of pensions. Currently the last 25 years are taken (the contribution bases of 300 months), in fact 2022 has been the last stage of a progressive calendar that began in 2013 to increase that calculation from 15 years.
The Government reached a commitment with the European Commission contained in the wording for the receipt of aid for the coronavirus pandemic. It specified the promise to “adapt the computation period for the calculation of the regulatory base of the retirement pension to the current reality of professional careers.”
This commitment was detailed to a greater extent later, when the Government signed the pertinent document, expressing its intention to design “the legislation for the extension of the computation period for the calculation of the retirement pension.” A milestone that was set for the last quarter of 2022.
In view of the proximity of that date, José Luis Escrivá (Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration) has already announced that to make the first proposal in this regard. During the last year there has been speculation about the possibility of extending the computation of pensions to 35 years, already sounding out options such as improving the gap integration mechanism () or allowing the worker to choose the years to include in the computation period.
In parallel, the Government also has yet to deal with the rise in contributions and the increase in the maximum amount of pensions, two measures that go hand in hand and that seek an increase in the contribution of high incomes with the aim of doing more sustainable the pension system, which will be subjected to an overexertion to assume the 2023 increase due to the new link to the CPI (Consumer Price Index) for the revaluation of pensions.
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