Permanent disability pensions increase by 8% in one year due to a regulatory change.

The rise in temporary disability (TD) is a problem that affects both the State's public finances and private companies. The increase in sick leave is also behind the rise in absenteeism, a phenomenon that will cost €32.8 billion this year, according to estimates by the employers' association CEOE, which reports that companies will have to cover €16 billion, half of the total. However, alongside the rise in TD, another similar phenomenon is also brewing: permanent disability , the economic consequences of which are equally worrying. According to records from the Ministry of Social Security, between January 2024 and June 2025, this type of pension has increased by 8.45%, from €945,530 to €1,025,446.

According to the department headed by Elma Saiz, one of the explanations behind this increase has to do with a change in criteria that "only has statistical effects." This refers to the modification that came into effect in April of last year, which raised the age for converting pensioners with permanent disability to retirement pensioners due to permanent disability from 65 to 66 years and six months. This delay in reaching the ordinary retirement age means, according to a ministerial source, that the retirement pool has increased, hence "the pool grows every month because the number of people of that age increases," referring to the progressive aging of the population that is particularly affecting Spain.

Statistics recording the number of pensions paid monthly by Social Security show that the implementation of this age increase has significantly altered the total number. While between 2015 and 2023 the figures hovered around 950,000 pensions, the average for the following year was closer to one million: it rose from 945,976 to 995,503, a 5% increase. Since April 2024, the amount has grown by approximately one percentage point every two months, reaching a year-on-year increase of 6.7% in June.

Despite the increase, sources from Elma Saiz's department point out that it "has no cost implications" and that it is "merely a matter of administration and statistics." They justify this interpretation by the fact that although it appears there are more permanent disability pensions, this is not because there are more new people, but because those already on the list are staying on the list longer.

Mariano Sanz, Confederal Secretary of Occupational Health for the CCOO (Working Council of Workers' Compensation), points to another reason behind this phenomenon. "Since the COVID pandemic, there has been a backlog in the assessment courts, and it's possible that a greater allocation of resources has allowed them to resolve many of the pending cases," says Sanz, who also points out that Social Security is working to standardize criteria to facilitate faster processing.

The CCOO representative also emphasizes that along with the rise in temporary disability benefits, there is also "a significant increase in the prevalence of conditions requiring more than 365 days of sick leave." This is a crucial moment in the medical procedure, since it is at the first birthday that both the public health system and mutual insurance companies request the National Social Security Institute (INSS) to evaluate the worker's situation and determine whether or not to grant permanent disability. This benefit would then be covered by Social Security and not by the mutual insurance companies themselves.

Patricia Ruiz, UGT's Confederal Secretary for Occupational Health, believes that no regulatory change can generate such an increase. "The INSS tells us there are more applications, but fewer permanent disability grants," she points out.

New regulation

The increase in sick leave is a problem that the Ministry of Labor has been willing to address for the first time. It opened the door to incorporating internal systems in companies to combat this problem during negotiations with employers over reduced working hours, in an attempt to convince them. When the agreement was ultimately withdrawn, the proposal vanished.

As the final stages of these negotiations were taking place, the Ministry of Social Security approved a new regulation allowing more professions to qualify for reduction coefficients and advance retirement ages without penalty. This formula would benefit those workers who work in demanding professions and, due to these specific conditions, accumulate the most sick leave.

In addition to the change regarding the retirement age for permanent disability, the Ministry of Labor approved an amendment to the Workers' Statute in May of this year to eliminate the recognition of permanent disability, whether total, absolute, or severe, as an automatic cause for termination of employment . Under the new rule, employees will voluntarily decide whether they wish to terminate their contract or prefer the company to adapt their position to allow them to continue working or find a new one, provided this does not entail excessive costs.