Partial retirement, active retirement and combining pension with work

They are 3 different concepts and it is best not to confuse them. Partial retirement allows you to reduce your working hours (between 25% and 75%) and claim the proportional part of the pension while continuing to work; when accessed before the ordinary age, the company must simultaneously sign a relief contract. It is regulated in article 215 of the Ley General de la Seguridad Social (the Spanish General Social Security Act).

Active retirement allows you to continue working full time, as an employee or self-employed worker (autónomo), and claim a percentage of the pension (from 45% to 100%) at the same time once the ordinary age is reached. It is the route for those who want to maintain their activity without completely giving up the pension.

The special agreement does not combine a pension and work: it is a voluntary agreement with the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS) to continue contributing on your own when you stop working, so that you do not lose coverage for future retirement, permanent disability or death and survival benefits.

Partial retirement with a relief contract: you must be hired full time, have an age that is at most 3 years lower than the ordinary age, prove 33 years of contributions (25 years if a disability equal to or greater than 33% is proven) and a minimum seniority of 6 years in the company. The company must formalise a permanent and full-time relief contract. If the ordinary age has already been reached, it can be accessed without a relief contract.

Active retirement: you must have reached the ordinary retirement age and meet the minimum contribution period necessary for the pension (15 years). Generally, it is required that at least 1 year has passed since the ordinary age. The compatible activity must be carried out in the private sector: holding a position or high office in the public sector is not valid.

Special agreement: it can be signed, among others, by those who deregister from the Seguridad Social or stop receiving unemployment benefits. Generally, it is required to have covered a minimum period of 1,080 days of contributions in the 12 years prior to deregistration.

Since the 2025 reform, the compatible pension percentage depends on how many years retirement has been delayed compared to the ordinary age: 45% with a 1 year delay, 55% with 2, 65% with 3, 80% with 4 and 100% with 5 or more years.

Furthermore, once in active retirement, the percentage rises by 5 points for every 12 uninterrupted months of compatible work, capped at 100% of the pension. The increase is calculated on the full pension, without counting the minimum supplement.

During compatibility, a solidarity contribution of 9% is applied to the base for common contingencies (7% paid by the company and 2% by the worker). An autónomo can combine up to 75% of the pension, but they must meet 2 cumulative requirements: the retirement delay must be from 1 to 3 years after the ordinary age and they must have hired at least 1 employee with a permanent contract and a minimum seniority of 18 months (or it must be a new permanent hire of a person who has not been linked to the autónomo in the previous 2 years).

The special agreement serves to avoid leaving gaps in your contribution history when you stop working before retirement. The interested party chooses a contribution base (between the current minimum, the one they had been contributing and, if they prove 24 months contributed in the last 5 years, the maximum of their group) and assumes the monthly fee.

The fee is the result of applying the current contribution rate for the agreement (28.3%) to the chosen base, multiplied by the coefficient 0.94, plus the intergenerational equity mechanism. The application is submitted using form TA.0040 to the TGSS Administration of the applicant's address.

The general deadline to request it is 1 year from the day following the effective date of deregistration. This agreement covers retirement, permanent disability and death and survival benefits derived from common illness and non-occupational accidents.

The ordinary retirement age in 2026 is 66 years and 10 months for those who prove less than 38 years and 3 months of contributions, and 65 years for those who reach or exceed that contribution. This is the reference that marks from when active retirement can be accessed and until when partial retirement can be brought forward.

The major novelty remains the Real Decreto-ley 11/2024, which reformed active retirement (new scale from 45% to 100% depending on delay) and made partial retirement more flexible (working hours reduction up to 75%). The INSS Management Criterion 5/2025 details how to apply these rules. Managora reviews your specific case with the current regulations before submitting.