Maite Cela contributed for 30 years to the Spanish Social Security, but at 66 years old had to go back to work for three months as a domestic worker to get her pension. The case was reported by the French magazine Marie France in a piece about the difficulties faced by self-employed workers in Spain.
Maite and her husband ran a hairdressing salon and decided to close the business after the Spanish Social Security told them that he could apply for early retirement. The application was refused several times because the contribution base would not reach the minimum required. The couple ended up going a full year without any income. After a car accident, the husband continued to work with three broken ribs and a fractured clavicle because the amount he received during the sick leave was only 15 euros and did not cover the costs associated with traveling to appointments.
In Spain, legislation establishes that voluntary early retirement requires at least 35 years of contributions and that the resulting pension value must be higher than the minimum pension applicable at 65. A career of 30 years does not allow for ordinary retirement at 65, making it necessary to wait until the age of 66 years and 10 months. Thirty years of contributions are also not enough to access the main general early retirement modalities, which require 35 years or 33 years of contributions, in addition to other conditions.
In Portugal, the rules are different. The normal age for access to the old-age pension is set at 66 years and nine months in 2026, and at least 15 calendar years with recorded earnings are required. A career of 30 years would exceed the Portuguese minimum contribution period, but a person who is exactly 66 years old would not yet have reached the normal retirement age in 2026. The pension amount would depend on the recorded earnings and the duration of the contribution career.
