The announcement was made by the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, Elma Saiz, after a meeting with representatives of the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (CERMI). The change will be incorporated into the annex of Royal Decree 1851/2009, which regulates the early retirement of workers with certain disabilities.
The key is that this is not early retirement open to all workers, but a specific modality for people with recognized disabilities and pathologies that seriously condition their working lives.
The 11 new pathologies included
The new pathologies that will allow access to this early retirement modality are:
- Spina bifida
- Variant transthyretin amyloidosis
- Parkinson's disease
- Myotonic dystrophy type 1 -Steinert-
- Huntington's disease
- Chronic kidney disease stage 5
- Systemic sclerosis
- Spinal cord injury
- Corticobasal degeneration
- Multiple system atrophy
- Progressive supranuclear palsy
With this expansion, the Government is responding to a long-standing demand from patient organizations and disability entities, who called for adapting the system to serious, chronic, or neurodegenerative diseases that make it difficult to maintain an ordinary working life until the common retirement age.
The minister Elma Saiz defended the measure as a matter of justice for people who suffer from diseases that intensely condition their day-to-day lives and who need to anticipate their retirement to be on par with other workers.
What requirements must be met to retire early
To access this early retirement, it is not enough to have one of the included pathologies. The worker must prove a disability equal to or greater than 45%, be affiliated or in a situation assimilated to affiliation at the time of applying for retirement, and meet the required contribution requirements.
Specifically, they must prove at least 15 years of contributions throughout their working life. Furthermore, within that period, at least five years must have been contributed with a recognized disability equal to or greater than 45% resulting from one of the pathologies included in the regulation.
This point is important because it avoids a common confusion: the regulation does not allow automatic retirement at 56 for having a disease included in the list. It is necessary to simultaneously meet the medical, administrative, and contribution requirements.
Why the pension is not lost even if the retirement age is advanced
The measure allows for early retirement without applying the usual reductions of other forms of early retirement. The reason is that the period in which the retirement age is reduced is counted as contributed for the purpose of calculating the percentage applicable to the regulatory base.
In simple terms: if a person meets the requirements to opt for this modality, the early retirement does not operate as an ordinary penalty. It does not work the same way as common voluntary early retirement, where reduction coefficients may be applied to the pension.
This is the element that explains the impact of the announcement: it allows for earlier retirement due to a serious disability situation without the worker's pension being penalized for advancing the age of exit from the labor market.
Up to what age can retirement be advanced
The minimum age in this modality can be as low as 56 years for people with a disability equal to or greater than 45% affected by any of the pathologies included in the regulations. Royal Decree 1851/2009 sets this exceptional minimum age for the regulated cases.
In practice, this can mean advancing retirement by about a decade compared to the ordinary age, depending on the legal age applicable in each case and the worker's contribution history.
The measure is particularly relevant because in Spain the ordinary retirement age is undergoing a progressive increase. In 2026, the general legal age depends on the years contributed: those who prove a long career can retire at 65, while those who do not reach that threshold have a higher ordinary age.
A change pending regulatory development
The expansion will be made by modifying the annex of Royal Decree 1851/2009. That annex is what lists the pathologies that can grant access to early retirement due to a disability equal to or greater than 45%.
The Ministry of Inclusion has explained that the incorporation of these new diseases responds to technical reports that prove their impact on life expectancy and the work capacity of affected individuals. CERMI has also argued that the expansion represents progress for a group that had been demanding greater recognition in access to early retirement for years.
The reform is part of a broader review of mechanisms that allow for early retirement in particularly arduous, dangerous, toxic, or burdensome activities or situations, as well as in cases of recognized disability.
Difference with other early retirements
This modality should not be confused with voluntary early retirement or early retirement for specific professions. In ordinary voluntary early retirement, the worker can retire before the legal age, but normally accepts reduction coefficients that lower the pension.
In the case of early retirement due to a disability of 45% or more, the basis is different. The rule recognizes that certain pathologies reduce the capacity to prolong working life under conditions equivalent to other workers.
Therefore, the legal design seeks to compensate for this situation and allows for early retirement without applying the economic penalty typical of other early retirement formulas.
A measure with an impact on 50,000 workers
Social Security estimates that around 50,000 workers with disabilities will be able to benefit from this expansion. The impact will be particularly relevant for those suffering from chronic, degenerative, or severe progressive diseases that were not previously included in the list.
The incorporation of pathologies such as Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, spinal cord injury, or chronic kidney disease stage 5 expands the scope of a retirement modality that had been demanded by patient associations for years.
The change once again places retirement in Spain at the center of social debate: not only because of the legal retirement age or the sustainability of the system, but also because of the need to adapt the rules to working lives marked by illness, disability, and loss of functional capacity.