Reducing the gender gap

The council of ministers approves a maternity or paternity supplement to reduce the gender gap in pensions.

Currently, women with children who receive a contributory pension and whose professional careers had been affected, received a maternity supplement to their pensions of 5% if they had two children, 10% if they had three and 15% from the fourth child onwards, in accordance with the provisions of art. 60.1 of the General Law on Social Security. The First Chamber of the European High Court of Justice considered this supplement to be discriminatory for men in its ruling of 12/12/2019, which is why the Government has set to work to regulate this supplement in view of the avalanche of claims that are expected following the publication of the European ruling.

The new aid approved by the Government is set at a fixed amount of 400 euros per year per child and can be requested by both men and women, always from the first child onwards. However, the new regulation also includes certain requirements that limit access to this supplement, such as proof of loss of income. In the words of the Minister for Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá, this aid aims to “specifically reduce the gender gap that exists in pensions in Spain”, and is aimed at “those men or women” who “in the years after having had their first child (…) can accredit that there has really been a loss in their professional career“.

Thus, now either of the parents can apply for this supplement, although only one of them can do so, and preference will be given to the one who has accumulated the worst pension. In the event that neither of the parents can prove the detriment, the supplement will be granted to the mother, or to the parent with the lower pension in the case of a same-sex couple.

The maternity or paternity allowance is recognised in all types of pension (retirement, permanent disability and widowhood) except for partial retirement. Voluntary early retirement becomes eligible for the supplement with this improvement.

The temporary scope of the new financial supplement is linked to the achievement of the objective of reducing the gender gap in contributory retirement pensions to below 5 per cent.

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