Agreement for the revaluation of pensions

The average benefit will increase by 12.6 euros per month, while retirees will have 14.5 euros more and widows will have another 25 euros.

Retirees have only partially won the battle, since the Government has accepted, in exchange for the support of the PNV to reject the vetoes of the State Budget for 2018, to raise all pensions in general, by 1.6% both for this year and for the next one, following the evolution of the CPI, as they have been demanding for weeks.

But the triumph has been double, because it can no longer be reversed and the revaluation of minimum and non-contributory benefits will remain in the announced 3%. And there is even a third victory, in this case for widows, who will see their regulatory base rise two points above what was agreed to up to 56% in 2018 and reach 60% in 2019.

The biggest increase, for widows

The greatest growth that these percentage increases will mean for retirees will correspond to widows, although not all of them, only half a million (according to the calculations estimated by the Government in the Budget project), since in order for their regulatory base To go from the current 52% to 56%, they are required to be at least 65 years old, not receive another public pension - neither Spanish nor foreign -, not work or have other income higher than those that give the right to a minimum pension. But for those who meet this requirement, it will mean on average about 25 euros more per month, taking into account that for each point that the regulatory base increases means 1.9% more and that the average benefit of this group amounted to 653 euros. per month in April.

Likewise, in 2019 this regulatory base will be raised to 60% (a measure that was already included in the 2011 reform but was not carried out), which will mean another increase of about 88 euros, meaning that in just a year and a half we will see their income will increase by around 113 euros on average, so that they will practically be equal to the Minimum Interprofessional Wage (set at 773 euros for next year).

Minimum and contributory pensions, for their part, will maintain the increase announced in 3%, almost double the general increase. As an example, a beneficiary of the minimum benefit, who is 65 years old and has a pension without a dependent spouse, will collect 656.9 euros per month compared to 637.7.