In June 2015, the Spanish Council of Ministers approved the proposal concerning extra pension supplements for women with children.
This new measure is expected to affect retirement, widow and permanent incapacity pensions. More precisely, this extra supplement consists of an additional percentage to the ‘ordinary’ pension, as follows: 5% in the case of two children, by 5% in the case of two children, 10% in the case of three children and 15% in the case of four children or more.
With this measure, the Spanish Government aims to compensate not only for women’s economic contributions while working, but also for their contributions to natality rates (as births are essential for the continuity of the social security system). Thus, it recognises the ‘demographic contribution’ of working women and tries to compensate for women’s lower contributions to the social security system (sometimes a consequence of interrupted working careers due to maternity). This increase in women's pensions is in line with the recommendations by the European Council to reduce the gap between men and women with regard to pensions.
The measure should be approved now by the Parliamentary Commission of the Toledo Pact, a parliamentary group specialised in the Spanish pension system. The idea is that the measure enters into force from January 2016 onwards.