Spain’s Law 2/2026, dated 29 July, establishes a route for certain professionals who paid into alternative mutual societies instead of the public self-employed system to transfer their accumulated economic rights to the Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social. The law was published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 31 July 2026 and took effect on 1 August. It concerns professions including lawyers and architects. Procuradores and other groups whose mutualities historically served as an alternative to the Régimen Especial de Trabajadores Autónomos (RETA) are also covered.
The measure, known as the “pasarela,” is intended to convert transferred funds into recognized contribution periods in RETA. It does not automatically turn each year of mutuality contributions into an equivalent RETA year. The transfer is voluntary, but becomes irreversible once made for the activity concerned. More than 150,000 professionals have been described as potentially affected. That figure is not a count of applicants or a guarantee of a pension increase.
The conversion is based on the minimum contribution base that would have applied had the professional been enrolled in RETA, adjusted by a coefficient of 0.67 to 0.87 to account for contingencies not covered by the mutuality. The number of periods recognized will so depend on the value transferred and the applicable reference base. It will also depend on the calculation method set out in the implementing rules. The resulting pension will vary by individual; the law does not establish a uniform monthly payment of €1,200.
The legal structure is in place, but the transfer mechanism depends on implementing regulations. Those rules must cover how accumulated rights are treated and converted into RETA periods. They must also set out how transferred funds are allocated. The government’s reported deadline to develop the rules is 23 October 2026. The individual application window is one year from the regulations’ entry into force, not from the law’s publication.
Eligibility is not universal. People already receiving a pension from a public regime or a mutuality are generally excluded, with exceptions including widowhood pensions. The scheme is so principally relevant to eligible professionals who have not already begun receiving a public or mutuality retirement pension. The transfer route is not yet available: applicants must wait for the implementing rules to take effect.
The reform also sets contribution reference levels for mutualistas who remain in their existing system: 86% in 2026, 93% in 2027 and 100% in 2028. The legislation allows compliance through minimum benefits or a contribution equivalent to the applicable RETA reference contribution. That makes the reform broader than the transfer mechanism alone.
The debate reflects a long-running difference between alternative mutuality arrangements and the public self-employed regime: contributions to a mutuality did not necessarily produce the same public pension rights as contributions to RETA. Professional organizations have sought a route to transfer accumulated assets and establish how they translate into public-system contribution periods. The law creates that route, while leaving basic administrative details and the calculation method to secondary regulation.
Social protection and workers’ rights in Spain are regular subjects of legislative change. A recent discussion, for example, concerned the transfer of production and jobs from the Lagarto factory in Zaragoza to Toledo. More details are available in the article on the relocation of production of the legendary Lagarto soap.
The law sets out a structure for eligible mutualistas to seek recognition of transferred rights in RETA, but it does not guarantee an automatic increase to the level of a public-system pension. The eventual result will depend on eligibility and the amount of accumulated rights transferred. It will also depend on the regulatory conversion formula.
