How you can get a permanent disability pension without asking Social Security

Permanent disability pensions are one of the most frequent in our country (they are the third type that is paid the most, after retirement and widowhood pensions), but there is some confusion around them due to their more special nature than the rest.

This very peculiar nature also means that, on occasions, the aspiring pensioner may find himself in an application process for the permanent disability pension without having started it. It occurs in specific cases, but it happens: Social Security can propose the application for a permanent disability pension without the need for the citizen to start the procedures, explains the specialized firm Campmany Abogados.

This can happen in those cases in which they have already After 18 months of temporary disability stipulated by law and if there are no improvement options for the worker (which would extend that temporary disability for another half year). If at that time, said worker has not started the process, Social Security can do so unilaterally.

Of course, the beginning of the process by Social Security does not imply anything at all. It is simply the opening of the file, the beginning of the request. Then, the worker will have to go through all the relevant phases until the agency makes a decision: if he receives a pension and, if so, to what degree.

As explained by Campmany Abogados, the citizen will realize that Social Security has initiated the application for the permanent disability pension in his place when he receives a registered letter from the body in which that action is communicated. Both an application form and an ‘official letter’ will be attached to the letter, a document in which it is possible to make the pertinent allegations regarding the process.

The aspiring pensioner must fill in these documents with their personal, contact and bank details (in addition to the extra documentation requested) and then send them back to Social Security within a period of 15 days. At that time, the pension application process will begin to pick up speed.

Afterwards, you will have to go to the medical court, a step that is always delicate due to everything that surrounds it, but that the citizen must face with a good attitude. There are a series of tips to make this visit a success: gather all the documentation possible, bring medical reports, carry out all the exercises and maneuvers that are requested and, in short, show an attitude of cooperation.

After these pertinent inquiries, the medical court will prepare a proposal for permanent disability if it deems it convenient (and also the degree of said disability), in the same way that it will propose the denial if its members consider that there are no reasons to grant it.

However, and despite what you may think, the medical court does not have the last word. With the opinion of its members and all the information collected, it will be the provincial director of Social Security who decidesultimately, whether or not the permanent disability pension is granted, and to what degree.

Altogether, the process it may take up to 135 business days, a considerable time for which the citizen must show patience.