The law says so: this is how you can access passive retirement in Spain and how much you are entitled to receive.

There are different types of retirement , and when we leave the labor market, we'll need to know which one applies to us and what its specific characteristics are. One of them, which many people aren't familiar with, is passive retirement . Unlike ordinary retirement under the general system, it's intended for a specific group of state workers and is governed by its own rules.

Not all civil servants belong to the Retired Classes , but only certain career public employees. Specifically, these are civil servants of the State Administration, career military personnel , and members of the State Security Forces and Corps with a military status, as well as senior state officials . The remaining civil servants are included in the general system.

It should also be noted that this system has been closed to new civil servants since 2011. Therefore, all public employees contribute to the General Social Security System starting January 1 of that year and no longer to the pension system. In other words, it only applies to civil servants who began their professional careers before that date, while new generations now continue to contribute to the general system.

Civil servants in the retired classes can retire early at age 60 , provided they have completed 30 years of service to the State. Otherwise, mandatory retirement is at age 65 in most cases, although it can be as high as 70 for judges or prosecutors.

How the pension is calculated

In passive retirement , the contribution bases of recent years are not used to calculate the pension, but rather a fixed regulatory income is used, according to the body or category of the civil servant, to which a percentage is applied based on the years of service.

At age 35 , you receive 100% of your statutory pension, which would correspond to the maximum pension for that age group. Therefore, the amount you receive will depend on two variables : your statutory pension and your years of service.