Active Retirement Labor Office, what is it and what changes in 2022?

INMACULATE LARZABAL CIRIQUIAIN

As a consequence of the article referring to the pension reform, several readers asked me questions about active retirement, what does it consist of? how can you access it? For this reason, I think it is convenient to clarify these issues for users who are thinking of taking advantage of this figure.

Active retirement is a figure that makes it possible to make any work for someone else or self-employed compatible with receiving a contributory retirement pension.

Employed workers who want to opt for this modality must meet the following requirements:

- That 1 year has elapsed since the ordinary retirement age that is applicable in each case was met. This requirement is a novelty in force since January 1, 2022, since before you could opt for this modality from the moment you reached the ordinary age.

- It is necessary that the amount of the retirement pension that is reached is 100%. In other words, it is only provided for those workers who have contributed long enough to access the full pension, which by 2022 is a minimum of 36 years.

- That the activity that is intended to be carried out is in the private sector since work in the public sector is incompatible with a retirement pension.

The paid work to be carried out may be full-time or part-time, since no obligation is required in terms of the duration of the working day and the pension received will be 50%. Therefore, the worker may receive the wages corresponding to the work he performs and 50% of the pension. In addition, this percentage can be increased to 100% for self-employed workers as long as they prove that they have hired at least one employee (otherwise it will be, like the employee, 50% and it can only be make the receipt of the total retirement pension compatible, that is, 100%, if the self-employed person's income does not annually exceed the amount of the minimum interprofessional salary, which for the year 2022 is set at 13,510 euros).

During the time that the pension and provision of services are made compatible, the worker will maintain the status of pensioner for all purposes, but supplements cannot be received for minimums that are incompatible with work. The contribution during this period is reduced, since from the time the ordinary retirement age is reached, contributions will only be made for temporary disability and professional contingencies, although after a pension and work are made compatible, one year after the age was reached. ordinary retirement, a "solidarity contribution" of 9% will be added on the basis of contribution for common contingencies (7% by the employer and 2% by the worker).

Therefore, a fundamental novelty from this year to access active retirement is the requirement that one year have passed since the ordinary contribution age was met. A different issue is flexible retirement, in which the worker is allowed to provide part-time services once he already has a recognized retirement pension, in which case the pension will be reduced in the inverse proportion to the reduction applicable to the working day. Therefore, if you access the retirement pension upon reaching ordinary age, without waiting that year necessary for active retirement, your receipt can only be made compatible with a part-time job by reducing the pension in the same proportion to the percentage of working hours of work you intend to do.

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