The Government creates a working group on early retirement and arduous work

The Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts has created a working group to study the gender dimension and the arduousness of work performance based on age, within the framework of the general procedure for establishing reduction coefficients that allow for the anticipation of the retirement age. The measure is formalized through Order PJC/1023/2026, of September 28, published in the Official State Gazette (Boletín Oficial del Estado) no. 244, of October 2, 2026, section III, page 128926 (official reference BOE-A-2026-20513). The order enters into force on the day following its publication.

The legal mandate and the executing body

The regulation develops article 206.1 of the revised text of the General Social Security Law, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 8/2015, of October 30, which allows for the reduction of the minimum retirement age by royal decree for professional groups or activities involving exceptionally arduous, toxic, dangerous, or unhealthy work and with high morbidity or mortality rates. In compliance with this mandate, Royal Decree 402/2025, of May 27, was approved, whose first additional provision.1 provided for the creation of this working group.

The new body is constituted as an interministerial collegiate body in accordance with articles 21.1.a) and 22.3 of Law 40/2015, of October 1, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector, and lacks decision-making functions. It depends on the Directorate General for Social Security Regulation, attached to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration through the Secretary of State for Social Security and Pensions. The order is signed by Minister Félix Bolaños García.

Composition: presidency, eleven memberships and secretariat

The group will act in Plenary and will include the following members:

• Presidency: the holder of the Directorate General for Social Security Regulation.
• Memberships: eleven subgroup A1 representatives designated by the National Social Security Institute, the Social Institute of the Navy, the Social Security Legal Service, the Secretary of State for Labor, the State Body for Labor and Social Security Inspection, O.A., the National Institute for Safety and Health at Work, O.A., M.P., the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, the Secretary of State for Social Rights, and the Women’s Institute, O.A., in addition to one person designated by business associations and another by the most representative trade union organizations at the state level.
• Secretariat: the holder of the Sub-Directorate General for Social Security Legal Regulation, with a voice but no vote.

The presidency may convene experts, who shall have the right to speak but not to vote, and whose role shall be exclusively technical and advisory. Members shall receive no remuneration for their attendance.

Functions and deadlines

The group shall analyze and evaluate the gender dimension in the setting of reduction coefficients for occupations with a higher female presence. Within six months of its constitution, it shall also study activities in sectors where physical or psychological requirements from a certain age constitute arduousness without proving high morbidity or mortality rates. Furthermore, it shall analyze comparative law, preferably within the scope of the European Union, and assess within one year whether it is appropriate to modify Royal Decree 402/2025.

If it detects groups susceptible to benefiting from reduction coefficients without business or union representation, it shall bring this to the attention of the Directorate General for Social Security Regulation to assess the initiation of proceedings ex officio. The group shall meet at least twice, adopt agreements by simple majority—with the presidency holding the casting vote in the event of a tie—and the final report of conclusions shall be prepared coordinately by the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate and the National Institute for Safety and Health at Work. Its creation shall not entail an increase in public spending.

The order opens the way to review which occupations deserve early retirement due to arduousness, an issue affecting sectors with arduous or unhealthy jobs and feminized groups that have so far been outside the procedure. The result of the studies and the eventual modification of Royal Decree 402/2025 will determine which activities gain access to reduction coefficients and to what extent.

Source: Official State Gazette, no. 244, of October 2, 2026, section III, page 128926 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-20513).