Pensions of July 2026: what day each bank pays from this week and the payment table

Modifying the official pension payment schedule in Spain requires, first and foremost, identifying the type of regulation in which it is established (law, royal decree-law, or regulation). If the regulation is in a law, the modification requires a full legislative procedure in the General Courts. If a royal decree-law is used, there is specific parliamentary control (validation and possible processing as a bill). If it is only a regulation approved by the Government, the Parliament's role is more indirect (political control), unless it is decided to elevate those rules to the rank of law.

1. If the schedule is in a law (or is to be made into law)

In this scenario, the modification must be made through a regulation of the same rank: a law. The standard parliamentary procedure is as follows:

1.1. Initiative and referral to the Congress

• Government initiative: approves a bill that includes the reform of the pension payment schedule and submits it to the Congress of Deputies.
• Parliamentary initiative: a parliamentary group or at least 15 deputies can present a bill with the same objective. The Senate, autonomous assemblies, or, if applicable, a popular legislative initiative can also do so.

1.2. Qualification, consideration, and overall debate

• The Board of the Congress qualifies the initiative and orders its publication.
• In the Plenary, there may be a consideration debate (in bills) or an overall debate with possible amendments aimed at returning the text to the Government or replacing it.
• If rejected at this point, the reform of the payment schedule fails.

1.3. Processing in committee

• Once the overall debate is passed, the initiative is sent to the competent committee (for example, Social Security).
• The groups present partial amendments to the articles regulating the payment schedule.
• A working group is held, where transactions are negotiated and a report is drafted.
• The committee prepares a report, which may already contain the new wording of the payment schedule.

1.4. Congress Plenary

• The report is debated in the Plenary, with defense of amendments kept “alive.”
• The entire text is voted on. If approved, the regulation of the payment schedule in the law is modified pending the Senate's step.

1.5. Processing in the Senate

• The approved text is sent to the Senate, where it can be approved as is, amended, or vetoed.
• If the Senate introduces amendments regarding the payment schedule, the text returns to the Congress, which can accept or reject them.
• If the Senate vetoes the text, the Congress can override the veto (immediate absolute majority or simple majority after two months).

1.6. Sanction and publication

Once the final text is set, the sanction and promulgation by the King and its publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE) proceed. Only then does the modification of the payment schedule become mandatory.

2. If a royal decree-law is used

If the Government decides to regulate or change the payment schedule through a royal decree-law (due to “extraordinary and urgent need”):

• The royal decree-law comes into force after its publication in the BOE.
• Within a maximum period of 30 days, it must be validated or repealed by the Plenary of the Congress, in a single debate and vote.
• The Congress may agree to its processing as a bill by the urgent procedure, which then opens the same legislative sequence (committee, amendments, Senate, etc.), allowing adjustments to the payment schedule regime.

3. If the schedule is only in a Government regulation

If the pension payment schedule is detailed only in a regulation (for example, a ministerial order or a royal decree without the rank of law):

• The modification is carried out directly by the Government, without the need for a specific parliamentary procedure.
• The General Courts exercise political control (questions, interpellations, non-legislative proposals, motions) but do not vote on the specific regulatory modification.
• If Parliament wants to “shield” the schedule, it can promote a law that sets the essential criteria, thus moving to the scenario of point 1.

4. Distinctive role of the Congress and the Senate

In all cases of legal modification, the key body is the Congress of Deputies, which has the final say over the Senate and decides on the validation of royal decree-laws. The Senate acts as a reviewing chamber, with the capacity to amend or veto, but its decision can be corrected by the Congress. Therefore, any stable and structural change to the official pension payment schedule usually goes through a full Congress–Senate–Congress cycle before being published in the BOE.

The National Social Security Institute (INSS) is the managing entity responsible for the recognition and administration of economic benefits of the Social Security system, including contributory pensions for retirement, permanent disability, widowhood, orphanhood, and in favor of relatives. Additionally, it assumes functions over certain non-contributory benefits, as well as the management of the Public Social Benefits Registry. These competencies are generally established in the General Social Security Law (LGSS), approved by the Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, and are detailed in the Royal Decree 2583/1996, on the organizational structure and functions of the INSS, modified by subsequent royal decrees.

General framework in the General Social Security Law

The LGSS establishes the basic distribution of functions among managing entities. According to the consolidated text itself (General Social Security Law):

• The management and administration of Social Security is carried out by several entities, among them:
  a) The National Social Security Institute, “for the management and administration of the economic benefits of the Social Security system, except those mentioned in section c) below.”
  c) The Institute for the Elderly and Social Services (IMSERSO), “for the management of non-contributory disability and retirement pensions.”

That is, the INSS is generally responsible for managing economic benefits, but non-contributory retirement and disability pensions are managed by IMSERSO (and, where applicable, autonomous services), although always within the Social Security framework.

The LGSS also assigns the INSS the management and operation of the Public Social Benefits Registry, composed of pensions and other economic benefits (including non-contributory pensions and those paid by the INSS Special Fund), and obliges all entities managing pensions to send the Institute the necessary data for control and compatibility of benefits.

Specific functions of the INSS according to Royal Decree 2583/1996

The details of the INSS's competencies are set out in the Royal Decree 2583/1996, on the organizational structure and functions of the National Social Security Institute, modified, among others, by Royal Decree 1010/2017 and Royal Decree 496/2020.

Article 1 of this royal decree establishes that the INSS, as a managing entity of Social Security, is entrusted with the “management and administration of the economic benefits of the Social Security system,” and specifies, among others, these key competencies regarding pensions and economic benefits:

• Recognition and control of entitlement to contributory benefits: the INSS is assigned “the competence in the recognition and control of entitlement to economic benefits of the Social Security system in its contributory modality,” except for unemployment benefits (State Public Employment Service) and those of the Special Regime for Sea Workers (Social Institute of the Navy).
• Recognition and control of entitlement to non-contributory benefits: it is also assigned “the recognition and control of entitlement to economic benefits of the Social Security system in its non-contributory modality, except those managed by the Institute for the Elderly and Social Services or the competent services of the autonomous communities.”
• Public Social Benefits Registry: the royal decree reiterates the INSS's competence in the “management and operation of the Public Social Benefits Registry,” a key tool to control the concurrence of pensions and other benefits and their compatibility.
• Special Fund and other benefits: it is assigned the “management of the Special Fund of Mutual Societies of Social Security Officials” and the management of certain special economic benefits (for example, those derived from toxic syndrome or, after recent reforms, compensations for asbestos exposure).

Management, control, and practical payment of pensions

From a legal-organizational point of view, the essential competence of the INSS regarding pensions focuses on the initial recognition of entitlement (resolution declaring whether the pension is granted and in what amount), its modification, suspension, and termination, and the permanent control that requirements are maintained (family situations, income, compatibilities, etc.).

The Royal Decree 2583/1996 assigns the INSS's Subdirectorate General for Benefits Management the design and monitoring of work processes applied to the “recognition, suspension, and termination of entitlement to Social Security system benefits,” as well as the “administration and control of entitlement to economic benefits.” Regarding the material payment (crediting to bank account), the analyzed regulations emphasize the INSS's role in managing and controlling entitlement and in the Benefits Registry; payment is made within the “Social Security system,” without these provisions detailing the technical aspects of the Treasury or other actors.

In summary, it can be said that the INSS is the decision-making and legal-economic control body of Social Security system pensions, while other entities (IMSERSO, autonomous services, other managers, or the Treasury itself) intervene in specific areas or in financial execution according to the competence distribution established by the LGSS and organizational regulations.

In Spain, there is no specific regulation that details the “advancement of pensions” by banks; in practice, these operations are subject to the general Social Security regime (which determines who is a pensioner and when the pension is paid) and, above all, to banking regulations on consumer credit, payment services, and transparency. The bank may advance the pension payment as long as it respects the rules on pre-contractual and contractual information, commissions, interest rates, and protection of retail clients. Depending on how the operation is structured, legally it may be a simple cost-free advance, a consumer credit, or an overdraft. Below is a summary of the main applicable legal requirements.

Public pension framework

The status of pensioner, the right to the benefit, and the payment schedule are determined by the General Social Security Law, approved by the Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, with successive modifications, among others, by Royal Decree-Law 16/2022, Royal Decree-Law 2/2023, Royal Decree-Law 2/2024, Royal Decree-Law 13/2022, Royal Decree-Law 28/2018, Royal Decree-Law 1/2023, Law 21/2021, and Law 6/2018. This regulation neither prohibits nor expressly regulates that a credit institution advances the payment; it simply establishes the right to the pension and its payment by Social Security.

Legal qualification of the advance

When the bank makes the pension money available to the client before Social Security deposits it, it usually fits into two categories:

• Cost-free advance: the bank advances the payment a few days without interest or commissions. In this case, it is more a commercial condition of the account than a credit; it is governed by general payment services rules (for example, Royal Decree-Law 19/2018 and its development in Royal Decree 736/2019, as well as the regulation of basic payment accounts in Royal Decree 164/2019 and Order ECE/228/2019).
• Credit or overdraft: if it allows spending beyond the balance, with interest or commissions, it falls under the scope of the Law 16/2011 on consumer credit contracts, which defines credit contracts, “overdraft possibility,” and “tacit overdraft” and imposes information obligations and specific limits (for example, exclusion of certain very short or interest-free credits, or rules on overdrafts that must be repaid in less than three months).

Transparency, information, and commissions

The economic conditions of the advance (whether there is an advance commission, overdraft interest rate, minimum expenses, etc.) are subject to Order EHA/2899/2011, on transparency and protection of banking service clients, modified by Order ECE/482/2019. This order requires:

• Publishing and making available to the client the usual commissions and interest rates.
• Providing clear pre-contractual information, including APR, total credit amount, and, if applicable, duration and payment schedule.
• Ensuring that communications and advertising are not misleading.

Bank of Spain Circular 5/2012 (with its modifications: Circular 4/2015 and Circular 1/2021, plus erratum [link]) develops this order and specifies how information about rates and commissions must be presented to the public.

Minimum requirements for the bank

In summary, to advance the pension payment, the credit institution must:

• Be authorized and supervised according to credit institution regulations (for example, those developed by Royal Decree 84/2015 and related rules such as Royal Decree 102/2019 and Royal Decree 309/2019).
• Correctly qualify the operation (simple advance linked to the account or credit/overdraft) for applying Law 16/2011 when appropriate.
• Inform in writing, before the client uses the service, of any interest, commission, or associated cost, complying with Order EHA/2899/2011 and Circular 5/2012.
• Reflect the operation in the account contract or in a specific credit contract, respecting the form and client information requirements established by Law 16/2011.
• Comply with payment services and payment account operation rules of Royal Decree-Law 19/2018.

Other cited regulations

In the field of private pensions and supervision, among others, Circular 2/2024, Royal Decree 738/2020, Circular 4/2017, Royal Decree 1060/2015, Order ETD/554/2020, Circular 5/2014, Resolution of July 3, 2014, Royal Decree 681/2014, Circular 1/2020, Royal Decree-Law 11/2018, Circular 1/2017, Circular 5/1994, Circular 13/1993, Order of October 21, 1971, Order of January 23, 1971, Order of November 25, 1967, and Resolution of December 13, 2017 are related. No further information is available in the consulted sources about additional specific requirements for pension advances.