Reform of the mutual societies alternative to the RETA: aligned contributions and a bridge to Social Security

Ley 2/2026, de 29 de julio (Law 2/2026 of 29 July), published in the BOE on 31 July 2026 and in force since 1 August 2026, amends the consolidated text of the Ley General de la Seguridad Social (General Social Security Act, Real Decreto Legislativo 8/2015) to overhaul the regime of the mutual provident societies alternative to the RETA governed by its additional provisions 18 and 19. It is not a merely clarifying norm: it aligns minimum contributions and benefits with the public system, subjects the mutual societies to new transparency obligations and opens a voluntary bridge towards Social Security. For the groups practising with an alternative mutual society, with the bar and the court agents as characteristic examples, it is the most significant reform in decades.

What changes

• Minimum contribution aligned with the RETA: the new wording of additional provision 19.2 deems the obligation of a minimum benefit amount fulfilled when the member's contributions equal 100% of the contribution resulting from applying the general RETA contribution rate for common contingencies to the minimum base of the contribution bracket corresponding to their net income. The Agencia Tributaria will provide the mutual societies, electronically, with the information needed to calculate that contribution.
• Transitional calendar: the new transitional provision 46 phases in the effort: the contribution will be 86% in 2026, 93% in 2027 and 100% in 2028.
• Minimum benefits: benefits paid as an annuity may not be lower than 100% of the initial minimum amount of the corresponding class of pension in the Social Security system or, if higher, the amount of non-contributory pensions, with annual updating on the same terms as public pensions. Paid as capital, the minimum is the capitalized amount of that annuity.
• Bridge to Social Security: the new transitional provision 47 allows those who are or have been members of an alternative mutual society to apply, individually and within one year from the entry into force of the implementing regulation, for the voluntary transfer to the TGSS of the economic rights accumulated through the alternative function. The regulation, which must be approved within a maximum of three months from the approval of the law, will convert those rights into contribution periods by taking the minimum base that would have applied and applying a coefficient of between 0.67 and 0.87. The transfer entails mandatory and irreversible enrolment in the RETA for that activity and is exempt from taxation.
• Special calculation for retirement: those who started their activity before 10 November 1995 will have the time spent in a substitute mutual society counted as registration in the RETA for the purposes of the percentage of art. 210.1, and for members aged 52 or over as at 31 December 2026 each full month contributed in the alternative mutual society will count as a month of registration in the RETA upon reaching retirement at the ordinary age of art. 205.1.a).
• Transparency and supervision: a new additional provision obliges alternative mutual societies to draw up a clear half-yearly report on their members' funds and their evolution, and to send the Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones the documentation for its continuous supervision. Another additional provision instructs the Government to produce an evaluation report on the alternative regime before 31 December 2030, to be sent to the Cortes Generales.
• Special agreement: the first additional provision allows, on a one-off basis, professionals who left the mutual society before individual capitalization applied and who do not reach fifteen years of contributions, to enter into a special agreement to count up to a maximum of five years of activity prior to leaving.

Context

Professionals registered with a professional association were left outside the RETA in its initial design (Decreto 2530/1970) and their integration was gradual. Ley 30/1995 made enrolment mandatory and individual, but allowed the option of the professional association's mutual society if it had been set up before 10 November 1995, an option that left the professional outside public cover. Ley 27/2011 imposed minimum cover on those mutual societies, today in additional provision 19. Even so, the preamble of Ley 2/2026 itself acknowledges that the benefits actually paid have at times fallen well below expectations, and even below what the RETA would have provided, and that this situation of lack of protection calls for raising cover and offering an orderly exit towards the public system.

Who is affected and how

• Active members: they will see their contributions rise until full alignment with the RETA in 2028 and have the bridge of transitional provision 47 available if they prefer to join the public system.
• Former members: those who belonged to an alternative mutual society may also apply for the transfer of the rights accumulated in that period; those who left before individual capitalization and do not reach fifteen years of contributions additionally have the special agreement of the first additional provision.
• Pensioners: they are outside the bridge, except those receiving only a widow's or widower's pension.
• Mutual societies and professional associations: they take on the new minimum benefit requirements, the half-yearly transparency report and DGSFP supervision, and the first final provision adjusts art. 44.4 of Ley 20/2015 to prioritize social benefits towards vulnerable members of alternative mutual societies.

What to do and when

• Already in 2026: confirm with the mutual society that the contribution reaches 86% of the RETA reference and budget for the jumps to 93% in 2027 and 100% in 2028.
• Regulation on the bridge: it must be approved within a maximum of three months from the approval of the law; from its entry into force, the one-year period to apply for the transfer runs. It is advisable to prepare the comparative calculation beforehand, because the decision is irreversible.
• Members born in 1974 or earlier: those aged 52 or over as at 31 December 2026 must build into that calculation the counting of each month in the mutual society as a month of registration in the RETA for the purposes of the pension percentage.
• Those who do nothing: they remain in their mutual society with the new contributions and minimum benefits; the alternative regime continues to exist and the Government will evaluate it before 31 December 2030.

The decision between staying in the mutual society or activating the bridge depends on each professional's age, accumulated rights and contribution record. We recommend assessing your specific case with BMC's employment law practice before the regulatory period opens.