Civil Servants’ Pension Scheme (Closed Scheme)
Régimen de Clases Pasivas
Coverage
Mandatory insurance
- Career civil servants of the State Administration, the Administration of Justice and career members of the Armed Forces and the Navy.
- The pension scheme has been closed for new appointees in the civil service since 1 January 2011.
Financing
General finances
- Mainly tax-financed out of the state budget.
- Partly PAYG-financed from social security contributions.
- There is no specific contribution for retirement. The contribution is the same for all pensions in this scheme.
Contribution rates
- Fixed share of monthly regulatory bases (haberes reguladores), with minimum and maximum contribution base ceilings.
- Contributions are shared between the state (6.72%) and the civil servant (3.86 % to the regulatory credit established in the General State Budget Act corresponding to the civil servant according to the respective corps, rank, post or category).
Taxation of contribution payments
- Social contributions are deductible expenses from the Personal Income Tax.
Administration
- The ‘Directorate General for the Organisation of Social Security’ (Dirección General de Ordenación de la Seguridad Social) manages the scheme.
Qualifying Conditions
Qualifying conditions
- The statutory compulsory retirement age is 65. Exceptions apply to professors of universities, magistrates, judges and lawyers of the administration of justice: statutory compulsory retirement age is 70.
- Minimum period of service: 15 years of effective service to the state must have been completed.
Early retirement
- Voluntary early retirement is possible at age 61, provided that the civil servant has provided 30 years of service to the state. Partial early retirement: pending development of regulations.
- Early retirement due to permanent disability/incapacity for service (declared ex officio or at the request of a party) that prevents the individual entirely from performing the tasks of his/her corps, rank, post or category is possible as an exception if it occurs while the civil servant is in active service or in an assimilated situation; in such a case, the years remaining until reaching the standard retirement age are also considered as effective service, in addition to the years of service completed up to that point. Some adjustments have been made to this rule since 2009.
- Early retirement for non-members of mutual societies (Mutualismo Laboral) is not possible.
- Early retirement due to non-voluntary termination of employment is not possible.
Deferred retirement
- Deferring retirement is possible in exceptional cases: professors of universities, magistrates, judges and lawyers of the administration of justice can opt to remain in service up to the age of 70.
Combining employment & retirement
- Termination of service relationship is a precondition for claiming pension benefits. Termination of the service relationship at the statutory retirement age (65 or 70 for specific groups upon requested deferral) is automatic. Pensioners cannot be re-employed by public administrations.
- In general, retirement pension is incompatible with employment or self-employment and therefore with registration in a public social security scheme. As an exception, the pensioner may combine the pension with employment or self-employment if he/she has only 12 years of actual state service and not the required minimum of 15 years by the time he/she reaches the compulsory retirement age. In this case, the amount of the pension compatible with work is 50%. However, if he/she is a self-employed and has at least one employee, the amount of the pension compatible with work is 100%.
- Flexible retirement is not possible.
Benefits
Pension benefits
- The amount of benefits is based on the number of years of effective state service, starting from a minimum of 15 years.
- A minimum amount is legally guaranteed to all pensioners in the form of the minimum supplements to contributory pensions.
- Maximum amount: pension benefits can never exceed the amount of the maximum pension set for each year (EUR 2,683.34 per month in 2020).
- A supplement for the reduction of the gender gap is applied to the contributory pensions of those beneficiaries who have had one or more children.
Benefit calculation
- A variable percentage is applied to the regulatory bases (established annually in the General State Budget Act) depending on the number of full years of effective state service recognised (e.g. 26.92% for 15 years and 100% for 35 years or more); depending on the Corps or category of the civil servant.
- Retirement pensions accrued as from 01/01/2015: when the person concerned reaches an age above the standard of 65 (having completed the minimum contribution period), an additional percentage will be recognised for each full year of contributions paid between the date on which he/she has reached that age and the date of the qualifying event for the pension (up to 25 years of effective service to the state, 2%; between 25 and 37 years, 2.75 % and after 37 years, 4%).
- Adjustments: yearly adjustment of pension benefits based on the revaluation index provided for in the corresponding General State Budget Act (in 2020, 0.9%).
Taxation and social security contributions
- Pension benefits are subject to tax.
- Pension benefits are not subject to social contributions.
- In cases of compatibility of pension and work, there is a special solidarity contribution of 9% of the contribution base for common contingencies shared between the employer (7%) and the employee (2%).
Coverage
Financing
Administration
Qualifying Conditions
Benefits
Mandatory insurance
- Career civil servants of the State Administration, the Administration of Justice and career members of the Armed Forces and the Navy.
- The pension scheme has been closed for new appointees in the civil service since 1 January 2011.
General finances
- Mainly tax-financed out of the state budget.
- Partly PAYG-financed from social security contributions.
- There is no specific contribution for retirement. The contribution is the same for all pensions in this scheme.
Contribution rates
- Fixed share of monthly regulatory bases (haberes reguladores), with minimum and maximum contribution base ceilings.
- Contributions are shared between the state (6.72%) and the civil servant (3.86 % to the regulatory credit established in the General State Budget Act corresponding to the civil servant according to the respective corps, rank, post or category).
Taxation of contribution payments
- Social contributions are deductible expenses from the Personal Income Tax.
- The ‘Directorate General for the Organisation of Social Security’ (Dirección General de Ordenación de la Seguridad Social) manages the scheme.
Qualifying conditions
- The statutory compulsory retirement age is 65. Exceptions apply to professors of universities, magistrates, judges and lawyers of the administration of justice: statutory compulsory retirement age is 70.
- Minimum period of service: 15 years of effective service to the state must have been completed.
Early retirement
- Voluntary early retirement is possible at age 61, provided that the civil servant has provided 30 years of service to the state. Partial early retirement: pending development of regulations.
- Early retirement due to permanent disability/incapacity for service (declared ex officio or at the request of a party) that prevents the individual entirely from performing the tasks of his/her corps, rank, post or category is possible as an exception if it occurs while the civil servant is in active service or in an assimilated situation; in such a case, the years remaining until reaching the standard retirement age are also considered as effective service, in addition to the years of service completed up to that point. Some adjustments have been made to this rule since 2009.
- Early retirement for non-members of mutual societies (Mutualismo Laboral) is not possible.
- Early retirement due to non-voluntary termination of employment is not possible.
Deferred retirement
- Deferring retirement is possible in exceptional cases: professors of universities, magistrates, judges and lawyers of the administration of justice can opt to remain in service up to the age of 70.
Combining employment & retirement
- Termination of service relationship is a precondition for claiming pension benefits. Termination of the service relationship at the statutory retirement age (65 or 70 for specific groups upon requested deferral) is automatic. Pensioners cannot be re-employed by public administrations.
- In general, retirement pension is incompatible with employment or self-employment and therefore with registration in a public social security scheme. As an exception, the pensioner may combine the pension with employment or self-employment if he/she has only 12 years of actual state service and not the required minimum of 15 years by the time he/she reaches the compulsory retirement age. In this case, the amount of the pension compatible with work is 50%. However, if he/she is a self-employed and has at least one employee, the amount of the pension compatible with work is 100%.
- Flexible retirement is not possible.
Pension benefits
- The amount of benefits is based on the number of years of effective state service, starting from a minimum of 15 years.
- A minimum amount is legally guaranteed to all pensioners in the form of the minimum supplements to contributory pensions.
- Maximum amount: pension benefits can never exceed the amount of the maximum pension set for each year (EUR 2,683.34 per month in 2020).
- A supplement for the reduction of the gender gap is applied to the contributory pensions of those beneficiaries who have had one or more children.
Benefit calculation
- A variable percentage is applied to the regulatory bases (established annually in the General State Budget Act) depending on the number of full years of effective state service recognised (e.g. 26.92% for 15 years and 100% for 35 years or more); depending on the Corps or category of the civil servant.
- Retirement pensions accrued as from 01/01/2015: when the person concerned reaches an age above the standard of 65 (having completed the minimum contribution period), an additional percentage will be recognised for each full year of contributions paid between the date on which he/she has reached that age and the date of the qualifying event for the pension (up to 25 years of effective service to the state, 2%; between 25 and 37 years, 2.75 % and after 37 years, 4%).
- Adjustments: yearly adjustment of pension benefits based on the revaluation index provided for in the corresponding General State Budget Act (in 2020, 0.9%).
Taxation and social security contributions
- Pension benefits are subject to tax.
- Pension benefits are not subject to social contributions.
- In cases of compatibility of pension and work, there is a special solidarity contribution of 9% of the contribution base for common contingencies shared between the employer (7%) and the employee (2%).
Legal Basis: Royal Legislative Decree 670/1987 of 30 April approving the consolidated text of the Act on State Passive Classes (Real Decreto Legislativo 670/1987, de 30 de abril, por el que se aprueba el texto refundido de Ley de Clases Pasivas del Estado).