How much can I charge for permanent disability? This is how the disability benefit is calculated.

Currently, the main recent reforms of the General Social Security Law (LGSS) on permanent disability are mostly approved and with parliamentary processing concluded. Only two initiatives with a more indirect impact (related to work accidents and the definition of certain cases as occupational accidents) are still at the parliamentary stage of amendments to the articles. Below, I detail, from most recent to oldest, which reforms affect permanent disability and at what stage they are.

1. Initiatives currently in process

1.1. Measures for the DANA and other disasters (RDL 10/2026 → Bill 121/000095)

Royal Decree-Law 10/2026 is being processed as Bill 121/000095 in the Congress. It affects the LGSS by declaring that certain economic benefits of permanent disability, death, and survival derived from work accidents will be recognized as such without applying article 156.4.a) of the LGSS, facilitating their classification as occupational accidents, according to the project text included in the Congress Bulletin (BOCG A-96).

In terms of parliamentary stage, the project is in the Congress of Deputies, in the phase of deadline for submission of amendments to the articles extended until 09/02/2026, according to the initiative file (detail of Bill 121/000095).

1.2. Horizontal Property Law Bill with modification of art. 198 LGSS

Although its main object is the modification of the Horizontal Property Law, the Bill processed in the Senate as (15)622/000050 introduces a relevant reform of article 198 LGSS on the compatibility between pension and work in absolute permanent disability and severe disability. The published text includes a new wording of art. 198.2, specifying that lifetime pensions in cases of absolute permanent disability or severe disability do not prevent certain compatible activities, and regulating the suspension of pension payment when the pensioner performs work that results in registration in Social Security (BOCG Senate D‑189).

Currently, in the Senate, this Bill is in the phase of deadline for submission of amendments, also extended until 09/02/2026, according to the latest published reference (extension of amendments). Therefore, it is still in an initial processing phase, without committee or report.

2. Reforms already approved and with processing concluded

2.1. Compatibility of work – pension in absolute permanent disability and severe disability (art. 198 LGSS)

The Special Taxes and Other Tax Measures Bill (Congress 121/000023, Senate (15)621/000010) included a Thirteenth Final Provision that modifies article 198.2 LGSS, clarifying the compatibility between:

• Lifetime pensions for absolute permanent disability or severe disability, and
• The exercise of compatible activities and the suspension of the pension when there is work that entails registration in a Social Security scheme.

This reform was definitively approved, with publication of the referral to Congress and the final text in December 2024 and January 2025 (BOCG A‑23‑6, approved text Congress, publication in the Senate). For parliamentary purposes, the initiative is in status Concluded (definitively approved).

2.2. Comprehensive reform ET–LGSS on permanent disability (Bill 121/000033)

The Bill modifying the Workers' Statute and the LGSS regarding permanent disability (121/000033, Senate (15)621/000012) is the most recent structural reform. In the LGSS, at least article 174.5 is modified (extension of effects of temporary disability when there is a proposal for permanent disability) and an important terminological adaptation is introduced replacing “severe disability” with “great incapacity” and “non-contributory invalidity” with “non-contributory disability,” according to the published committee report (committee report).

The text was processed by Congress and Senate urgently and was definitively approved on 04/22/2025, with a vote in the Senate (251 votes in favor, 3 against, 0 abstentions), with status Concluded (approved) in the initiative file (detail of Bill 121/000033, approved text in the Senate).

2.3. ALS and other neurological diseases Bill (art. 193 LGSS)

The Bill to improve the quality of life of people with ALS and other highly complex and irreversible neurological diseases or processes (Congress 122/000128 and antecedents; Senate (15)624/000003) has introduced a direct reform of article 193 LGSS, redefining contributory permanent disability and clarifying the treatment of anatomical or functional reductions prior to affiliation when it concerns people with disabilities.

The final approved text, published in the Congress Bulletin (BOCG B‑144‑4) and in the Senate (BOCG Senate D‑170), indicates that the processing of contributory permanent disability is also expedited. Parliamentarily, the initiative is in status definitively approved (Concluded). The committee report with the wording of art. 193.1 and 193.2 can be seen in the previous publication (BOCG B‑144‑2).

2.4. Other laws with indirect references

There are other initiatives already concluded that indirectly affect disability situations (for example, in the personal injury scale for traffic accidents or in the social economy), such as the Civil Liability and Insurance in Traffic Bill (121/000022, approved on 07/22/2025, with references to permanent disability in the calculation of lost profits: BOCG A‑22‑4, final text, Senate amendments, Senate publication) or the Comprehensive Law to Promote the Social Economy (Bill 121/000036, BOCG D‑391), both already definitively approved, but their main focus is not the regulation of permanent disability in the LGSS.

3. Lapsed initiatives

Finally, the Family Reconciliation and Shared Responsibility Bill (122/000129), which included a modification of article 177 LGSS (protected situations), lapsed on 11/20/2024, so its projected reform was not incorporated into the LGSS. The text can be consulted in the Congress Bulletin (initial text, later publication), but parliamentarily the initiative is listed as lapsed, without normative effects.

The National Social Security Institute (INSS) is the central body that legally recognizes and manages economic disability benefits in Spain. Regarding temporary disability (IT) and permanent disability (IP), its key function is to decide whether there is a right to the benefit, determine the degree and scope of the disability, and set the amount, duration, and reviews. Compared to mutual insurance companies and public health services, the INSS assumes the role of final decision-making authority and coordinator of the contributory benefits system. Below are its main competencies.

Role of the INSS in temporary disability

In temporary disability (medical leave), the INSS mainly has competencies of control, supervision, and final decision over the protected situation and the economic benefit, especially after certain deadlines.

• Recognition and control of the economic benefit: Decides if the IT subsidy applies in processes it is competent for (e.g., when it directly manages the contingency) and can suspend, extinguish, or deny the benefit if it detects lack of requirements or breaches.
• Issuance of medical discharges for economic purposes: After a certain time in IT, the INSS can issue medical discharges that end the economic benefit, even if the initial report was issued by the public health service or the mutual insurance company.
• Review of discharges/admissions by other agents: Can review and confirm or annul medical discharges issued by other services (mutuals or public health services) when appealed before the INSS itself.
• Determination of contingency: Decides if the process derives from common contingencies (common illness, non-occupational accident) or professional contingencies (work accident, occupational disease) when there is conflict between parties.

In this phase, public health services provide healthcare and issue medical leave/discharge reports in common contingencies, and mutual insurance companies assume similar functions in professional contingencies, but the ownership of the final decision-making power over the economic benefit corresponds to the INSS.

Competencies in permanent disability

In permanent disability, the centrality of the INSS is even greater, as it is the entity that:

• Initiates and processes the file: Can initiate the procedure ex officio (on its own initiative, by communication from health services, mutuals, or other entities) or at the request of the interested party.
• Assesses the degree of disability: Based on medical reports and the proposal of the Disability Assessment Teams (EVI), determines if permanent disability exists and at what degree (partial, total, absolute, or severe disability, as the case may be).
• Issues the administrative resolution: Recognizes, denies, or reviews the benefit, setting amount, effective date, and degree of disability.
• Manages the life of the pension: Handles modification, suspension, or termination of the benefit when circumstances change.

Disability Assessment Teams (EVI)

The EVIs are technical bodies that assist the INSS in the medical and functional assessment of disability. Their main functions are:

• Medical and professional evaluation: Analyze medical reports, work history, and the worker's usual profession to assess the reduction of their work capacity.
• Proposal to the INSS: Issue a report-proposal on the existence or not of disability, its degree, and the causative contingency, which serves as the basis for the INSS resolution.
• Reports in reviews: Also act when reviewing an already recognized disability, whether due to improvement, worsening, or diagnostic error.

Although the EVI report is not formally binding, in practice the INSS resolution is almost always based on this technical report.

Relationship with mutuals and public health services

The distribution of roles can be summarized as follows:

• Public health services: Provide healthcare in common contingencies and issue IT medical reports. They send reports to the INSS when the process is prolonged or a possible permanent disability is assessed.
• Collaborating mutuals: Manage professional contingencies (care and benefits) and part of IT for common contingencies when they assume this function by agreement, but under INSS supervision.
• INSS: Acts as the managing and decision-making body of economic disability benefits, with power to review and correct medical decisions of other entities for benefit purposes.

Review of resolutions and coordination

INSS resolutions on permanent disability can be reviewed:

• Ex officio: When the INSS itself detects signs of improvement, worsening, or diagnostic error, within the time limits set in the initial resolution.
• At the request of a party: At the request of the interested party, mutuals, or other entities, providing new medical documentation or substantial changes in the situation.

Additionally, the INSS coordinates its actions with other Social Security system entities (General Treasury, Social Institute of the Navy, mutuals) for contribution control, payment, and benefit compatibility. In sum, it concentrates the legal and administrative competence over recognition, review, and termination of disabilities, supported by the technical assessment of the EVIs and medical information from the health system and mutuals.

In Spain, the legal requirements to access a permanent disability pension today are mainly regulated in the consolidated text of the General Social Security Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, and in its regulatory development through Royal Decree 1300/1995 and the Order of January 18, 1996. The law distinguishes several degrees of permanent disability (total, absolute, and severe disability, among others) and sets different requirements depending on the cause (common or professional contingencies). However, the available sources here do not numerically detail all the required contribution periods, so only a general framework and the exceptions explicitly appearing can be offered.

Basic regulatory framework

The regulation of contributory permanent disability is framed in Title II of the General Social Security Law (LGSS), particularly in the articles cited by the law itself for this matter (articles 194, 195, 197, and 200, among others), as stated in a passage of the legal text expressly referring to these provisions regarding contributory permanent disability (LGSS).

The procedure, grading of degrees, and administrative competence are developed in Royal Decree 1300/1995 and the Order of January 18, 1996, updated punctually by Royal Decree 1152/2021. These norms assign the National Social Security Institute (INSS) the competence to evaluate, grade, and review disability, and to recognize economic benefits.

Medical and assessment requirements

Royal Decree 1300/1995 and the Order of January 18, 1996 establish that, regardless of the entity covering the contingency, it corresponds to the INSS to:

• Evaluate and grade permanent disability in its different degrees, and recognize the right to economic benefits.
• Determine if there are definitive injuries or ailments and their impact on work capacity.
• Act through the Disability Assessment Teams (EVI), which issue a report-proposal on the degree of disability, based on medical and professional documentation.

The LGSS also states that in the procedures for declaration and review of permanent disability, health institutions and mutuals must send the INSS the clinical history and necessary medical data to assess injuries and ailments, for the recognition of permanent disability benefits (LGSS).

Contribution and active status requirements

Access from active or assimilated status

The LGSS assumes that permanent disability is generally caused from a status of active or assimilated to active in Social Security, with contribution periods (qualifying periods) set by the law itself depending on:

• The contingency (common illness, non-occupational accident, work accident, or occupational disease).
• The degree of disability (total, absolute, severe disability…).

The numerical detail of these periods (total years and fractions within the last years contributed) is set out in articles 195 and 197 of the LGSS, but it does not appear developed in the available fragments, so it cannot be reproduced here precisely.

Access from non-active status (exception)

An important exception, which is literally stated in the LGSS, is the possibility of causing a permanent disability pension in certain cases of non-active status. Article 195.4 of the LGSS, according to the available fragment, establishes that permanent disability pensions in the degrees of absolute permanent disability or severe disability derived from common contingencies can be caused even if the interested party is not, at the time of the causative event, in active status or assimilated to active, provided they prove a minimum contribution period of fifteen years, distributed according to the qualifying rules set by that provision (LGSS).

Qualifying period and part-time: constitutional correction

Regarding the requirement of prior contribution when permanent disability derives from common illness, the Constitutional Court, through Judgment 155/2021, declared unconstitutional and null a clause of article 248.3 of the LGSS that affected part-time workers, for violating the principle of equality and constituting indirect discrimination based on sex. This judgment requires interpreting and applying the qualifying requirements in terms that do not specifically harm those who have worked part-time, but the available sources do not detail the resulting formula.

Compatibility with work and other aspects

The LGSS contains rules on the compatibility of permanent disability pensions with work:

• For total permanent disability, compatibility of the lifetime pension with a salary in the same or another company is foreseen, provided the functions do not coincide with those that caused the disability.
• For absolute permanent disability and severe disability, the pension is compatible with activities that are consistent with the pensioner's condition and do not imply modification of their capacity for review purposes (LGSS).

The law also provides for the capitalization of permanent disability pensions derived from work accidents or occupational diseases when responsibility corresponds to mutuals or companies, requiring the corresponding capital costs to be constituted in the General Treasury (LGSS).

Limitations of available information

The accessible texts allow identifying the legal framework, the competencies of the INSS, and some key rules (exceptional access from non-active with fifteen years contributed, compatibilities, constitutional correction for part-time). However, no further information is available in the consulted sources on the numerical details of qualifying periods required for each combination of degree and contingency (e.g., differences for those under 31 years old, exact rules for computing contribution gaps or part-time beyond the constitutional mention), which remain in the full articles of the LGSS and its regulatory development.