Alejandra Olcese

Updated Wednesday, March 27, 2024-01:46

  • Accounts Social Security will look for alternatives to the PGE to guarantee income to pay pensions

A total of

317,791 people

in Spain who are

of working age

(they are between 20 and 64 years old) and of which 85% are women receive a

widow's pension

that is on average around 900 euros per month, despite the fact that they have It has been almost four years since the Toledo Pact Commission recommended that the Government reform this benefit so that it would focus on covering people over 65.

"The

comprehensive reform of widowhood

involves adapting the configuration of the pension to the new social and family realities, as well as the socioeconomic circumstances of the beneficiaries, in order to improve the protection of pensioners without other resources, and to adapt the protection of less vulnerable groups (...) The Commission considers that protective action should

focus

on beneficiaries of the widow's pension aged

65 or over,

whose pension constitutes their main source of income, in order to guarantee a of income comparable to that existing before the death of the spouse or cohabitant", reads the thirteenth recommendation.

This mandate to the Executive was

approved unanimously

by all the parties that made up that parliamentary commission with the exception of

Vox

, but, despite the fact that four years have passed since its signature and that the Government has carried out a reform of the public pension system, this It is a topic that has not been addressed.

Sources close to the Ministry headed by

Elma Saiz

admit that

the issue is not on the table

, but they are aware that it is one of the great pending reforms in the country. When it is addressed, in addition, it will be done jointly with that of the

orphan's pension

, which must be reinforced. In fact, the idea is to reduce the potential beneficiaries of the widow's pension and, in exchange, improve the orphan's pension: "The progressive reformulation of the widow's pension should lead to an improvement in the orphan's pension, especially in terms of amount," requested the Toledo Pact.

In the absence of changes in recent years and given that all pensions have been increasing annually

in accordance with the CPI,

widow's pensions already take

2.1 billion euros

of public spending monthly, according to the March payroll published this Tuesday by Social Security . This is an amount that has grown a lot in recent years (a decade ago the disbursement was 1,475 million per month) and that is higher than what the European countries around us allocate on average to this item - they only surpass us, in fact, Greece and Italy, according to Eurostat.

Given the increase in spending on widow's pensions that has occurred in all European countries, many have chosen to make

reforms

:

France

introduced an income requirement in 2003 to access this benefit and, like

Belgium

, increased the age to which the beneficiary is entitled to the pension;

Germany

tightened the income levels to be a beneficiary and

Norway

reduced the amount of the pension for those under 55 who do not work, to promote employment.

In

Spain

,

16.5% of the total monthly spending

on pensions - which already stands at 12,693 million euros - is allocated to widow's pensions. In total, there are

2.35 million people

who receive this benefit, of which 2.14 are women and only 204,837 are men - to receive it the deceased must have contributed for at least 15 years, which is why there are so few male recipients. . Of the total, almost 320,000 are under 64 years old - some of them will work, since it is compatible, and others will not - and 588,870 receive a supplement to reach the minimum.

Regarding the amounts, on average they receive

894.07 euros per month

-920.2 euros in the case of women and 204.8 euros in the case of men-. Although these are the average salaries, there are important

territorial differences:

widows from the Basque Country, Asturias and Madrid are the ones who earn the most (1,085, 1,025 and 1,020 euros per month on average, respectively), while those from Galicia have the least income. (758 euros), the Balearic Islands (807) and Extremadura (815).

By number of beneficiaries, Andalusia leads the classification (with 393,762), followed by Catalonia (390,694) and the Community of Madrid (273,028).