The Council of Ministers has given the green light this Tuesday to a Royal Decree that adds eleven new disabilities or pathologies, among them spina bifida or Parkinson's disease, to the catalog of situations that allow access to early retirement for workers with disabilities with a degree equal to or greater than 45%.
According to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, this reform will make it possible for around 50,000 workers with disabilities to bring forward their retirement to up to 56 years old.
The new pathologies included are: Spina bifida, Transthyretin amyloidosis variant, Parkinson's disease, Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (Steinert), Huntington's disease, Systemic sclerosis, Spinal cord injury, Corticobasal degeneration, Multisystem atrophy, Progressive supranuclear palsy, and Chronic Kidney Disease stage G5.
The regulation will come into effect the day after its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE) and concludes a process in which a Technical Commission formed by medical specialists, scientific personnel, disability experts, and the General Directorate of Social Security Regulation has participated, as detailed by the department.
The Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, has emphasized that "thousands of people suffering from serious illnesses that affect their work performance will benefit from this government decision whose objective is to provide them with special protection that ensures justice and equalizes their opportunities with those of the rest of the working population."
To access this early retirement without it implying cuts in the amount of the pension, workers must meet conditions such as "being registered or in a situation equivalent to registration on the date of the causative event and proving 15 years of contributions throughout their working life and, within that period, that for at least 5 years they have been affected by one of these pathologies with a disability equal to or greater than 45 percent."
In these situations, the time in which the retirement age is brought forward will be considered as contributed for the purposes of calculating the applicable percentage on the regulatory base that determines the amount of the retirement pension, specifies the Ministry.
The CERMI has welcomed "with satisfaction" the approval of this royal decree "which will allow a greater number of workers with disabilities to access, under conditions of justice and equity, a measure of social protection adapted to the special situation that certain disabilities and pathologies entail."
The entity emphasizes that this regulatory provision, in whose drafting the CERMI has intervened "through a close process of dialogue" with the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Immigration, expands this possibility to eleven new pathologies "for which it has been scientifically proven that they entail a significant reduction in the life expectancy of workers with disabilities."
The CERMI highlights that, since this early retirement modality was created in 2009, the list of disabilities or pathologies eligible for it had not been updated.
After the reform of the regulatory Royal Decree in 2022 and the ministerial order that established the procedure for reviewing the catalog, in 2025 the channel was opened to request the inclusion of new disabilities or pathologies. With the incorporation of these eleven new cases, the first update process is completed.
The CERMI reminds that this review mechanism will remain open indefinitely, so that organizations wishing to promote the inclusion of other disabilities or pathologies can do so by following the established procedure and providing updated and sufficient scientific evidence that demonstrates a significant reduction in life expectancy associated with the proposed condition.