The long wait for drivers: early retirement gets bogged down in bureaucracy despite high road accident rates

The group of professional heavy vehicle drivers in Spain, made up of more than 300,000 people according to industry data, is still waiting for a definitive response from the Government regarding their long-standing demand to be able to retire before the legal age.

The legal basis for this already exists: Royal Decree 402/2025, which allows the application of reduction coefficients for arduousness. However, the administrative process has hit a wall of silence and delays that has exasperated trade unions and employers’ associations, with deadlines set by the regulations themselves at a maximum of six months, which have been vastly exceeded.

The request, unanimously supported by organisations such as Fenadismer and CETM together with the UGT and CCOO unions, is no trivial matter. Drivers argue that their job is not like any other: shifts of up to 14 hours a day, exposure to constant noise and vibrations, a very high risk of suffering a workplace accident, and accumulated physical wear and tear that, according to medical studies, shortens their life expectancy. “It is not a whim, it is a matter of health and survival,” is a phrase repeated at the group’s mobilisations.

The mechanism for early retirement, known as “reduction coefficients”, is objective. A coefficient of 0.15, one of those being considered for heavy vehicle drivers, would mean that for every 10 years worked behind the wheel, the retirement age would be reduced by 1.5 years, allowing retirement to be brought forward to a minimum limit of 52 years. The great advantage for the worker is that this early retirement would not lead to a reduction in the amount of their pension, since the coefficients are designed precisely so that it is calculated as if they had worked until the ordinary retirement age. In exchange, social contributions would be increased to maintain the sustainability of the system.

Tension has been growing in recent months. The sector’s main fear was that the lack of response from the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration could lead to a tacit rejection of the request due to “administrative silence”. This fear was temporarily dispelled following the statements of Minister Elma Saiz in Parliament, who confirmed that the procedure is continuing and that this path will not be used. However, bureaucratic slowness is an undeniable fact. “The Ministry has been without a clear response for over six months and drivers cannot wait any longer,” recently denounced a spokesperson for Fenadismer, which demands that the Executive establish a fluid information channel with the social partners to find out the real deadlines being handled by the Government.

Experts in labour law consulted point out that, although the law is clear in establishing a six-month period for the Administration to make a ruling, the technical complexity of the report that must be prepared by the General Directorate for the Organisation of Social Security is the main cause of the bottleneck. “This is a painstaking piece of work that must accurately quantify the economic impact of the measure and the real degree of arduousness of the profession; it is not a procedure that can be resolved lightly,” explains Ángel L. Gómez Díaz, a lawyer specialising in Social Security Law. However, the expert warns that “administrative silence generates legal uncertainty that is just as damaging as an express denial”.

While the Government finalises the reports and Fenadismer increases its pressure, the question hanging over the transport sector is whether this dance of deadlines will end up translating into real relief for its workers. For now, the only certainty is that the demand, which seemed closer than ever, remains trapped in the bureaucratic tangle, leaving drivers in a legal limbo while the road continues to claim victims and wear down its professionals.