Although the beginning of the year 2022 has begun with many changes in terms of pensions, the Government’s idea is that they are not the only ones. The reform planned by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations, José Luis Escrivá, contemplates new modifications that have to be approved throughout this financial year.
The first changes can already be perceived. Pensioners have seen that it takes into account the average inflation of the previous year, in different aspects and others such as forced retirement have also been affected. The main idea of all these measures is to make the pension system more sustainable and always with that objective in mind the Executive is going to address a new set of proposals.
The approval of all these measures is important, since they have been included in the sent to the European Commission and which is linked to the sending of economic aid from the European Union for the crisis derived from the coronavirus pandemic.
New complementary pension plans
This is the first of the changes that has already been approved by the Council of Ministers and that contemplates new complementary pension plans that depend on the contribution made by the employer.
New quota system for the self-employed
This change will affect the more than three million freelancers who currently carry out their activity in Spain, since it involves the creation of the new quota system based on real income. Escrivá has already launched several proposals to the social agents that, for the moment, have fallen on deaf ears. The last one based on the income declared by the self-employed.
Escrivá’s offer is made up of a total of 12 different sections that the self-employed could change up to six times a year. According to the appearance of the minister in a commission in the Congress of Deputies in November 2021, the objective of this new system is to “flexibly and gradually” adapt the system of the self-employed to the reality of the workers, reinforcing the protective action of Social Security.
Increase the years of contributions for calculating the pension
Perhaps it has been the measure that has generated the most controversy: the Government, in the , announced the “entry into force of the legislation for the extension of the computation period for the calculation of the retirement pension”, which could go from 25 to 35 years, which in practice would increase the difficulty of obtaining retirement pensions of a sufficient amount to guarantee professional retirements with sufficient resources.
The objective of this change is “to reinforce the contribution of the pension system and make it more equitable in a context of greater heterogeneity of careers in the current labor market”, according to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, but it has raised a lot of controversy and criticism due to the possibility that, by increasing the period of years for the calculation of pensions, amounts of the regulatory base are lost.
To try to alleviate this problem, such as improving the mechanisms for integrating gaps (they allow years without contributions) or that it is the citizen himself who chooses which 35 years he selects for the calculation of the pension (and not those immediately prior to the request of the pension).
Increase in maximum contribution bases
This is intended to increase the contributory nature of the system: the increase in the maximum contribution bases would go hand in hand with an increase in the maximum pensions, which is known as the ‘pension gap’.
In 2022, the maximum contribution base is 4,139.40 euros per month, while the maximum amount of pensions is 2,819.18 euros per month and 39,468.52 euros per year, according to the update of pensions.
Improving the treatment of people with disabilities
Another of the objectives of the ‘Escrivá reform’ in its second part is to put a “special focus on recognizing the situations faced by people with intellectual disabilities” and the problems that appear to them in the relationship they have with the system of the Social Security.
Creation of the State Social Security Agency
This measure’s final claim is to “modernize and make the Social Security administration more efficient,” as stated by José Luis Escrivá before the Congress of Deputies.
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