Every future pensioner shudders at any mention of extending the period of time used to calculate the benefit that will correspond to him and now, the Bank of Spain has agreed with him and has put figures to his fears. Specifically, extending this calculation period from 25 to 35 years would mean a cut of 8.2% for future pensions.
On the other hand, if the worst years are discarded from the calculation, the cut is smoothed out. If six exercises of 35 years are eliminated, the pension would be similar to the current system; if fewer years were allowed to be discarded, the result would be a cut.
In addition, this way of determining the regulatory base would have heterogeneous effects, benefiting low pensions more than high ones. It would mean an increase in pension benefits below the average, in relation to the current calculation scenario for the last 25 years, and a fall in the benefit for the highest pensions.
These are the conclusions of the study entitled Estimation of the impact of variations in the calculation period of the regulatory base on the amount of the new retirement pensions of the Bank of Spain published yesterday, two days after the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security definitively ruled out extend the calculation of the current 25 years to 35. Therefore, its impact on the negotiating table of the latest pension reform that has just been launched will not be the blow that it would have meant to warn of a possible cut of 8.2 % when the option was still on the table.
What Minister José Luis Escrivá contemplates is what he qualifies as minor adjustments, although at the moment he does not specify them, in the line of increasing the calculation period, compensating it with the possibility of suppressing the worst exercises. What the ministry pointed out at the last meeting of the table this Monday, is that they would be much lower than the jumps that have occurred in recent times when in 1997 the calculation went from 8 to 15 years, or in 2011 from 15 to 25 years . Some jumps that occur gradually. For example, the extension to 25 years has only been reached this year. The Bank of Spain has also calculated what this latest extension from 15 to 25 years of the calculation term has meant, a 5% cut in the average pension.
On this very sensitive issue, the unions are especially concerned about the lack of specificity from the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security. They point out that modifying the calculation term is not in the Toledo Pact and that they have doubts that a change of these characteristics has a political majority that supports it. Specifically, CC.OO. He points out that he is not going to accept any modification that implies a reduction in pension spending and that if the Government has a proposal with elements to correct the contribution gaps or to discard the worst years, put them on the table.
It will have to do it soon because this reform, together with the unstopping of maximum contributions, are two of the commitments that it has to close before the end of the year.
