Since July 2008, when the possibility of accessing age-based leave in the Catalan Parliament was created, 62 requests have been granted for this special regime that allows staff to get paid without working. According to data delivered by Parliament in the framework of the freedom of information requests made by ARA, seven were authorised during the speakership of Ernest Benach, when the special system began, and from here they have increased exponentially: fourteen were awarded under Núria de Gispert, eleven under Carme Forcadell and up to eighteen under Roger Torrent. During this 2021, with Laura Borràs as Speaker, 12 have been granted although they have been temporarily suspended, as the board decided to put an end to this system and is studying whether it can revert them. The decision comes after the ARA uncovered that Parliament allocates €1.7m per year to pay 21 officials who no longer work there.

Two former secretaries general of the Parliament of Catalonia and nineteen other officials of the chamber receive almost 100% of their salaries despite the fact that they no longer work there. This is a special regime called "age leave" that exists only for workers of Catalonia's Parliament since 2008. It is an unprecedented privilege that has no comparison in the common private market or in the administration of the Generalitat, and that until now could be requested when workers reached the age of 60 and had worked for over fifteen years in the parliamentary administration. They then receive this pay until they reach official retirement age. ARA has learnt from a freedom of information request made in April last year and recently answered, up to 21 former officials are covered by this system, with a salary totalling €1.7m per year (see graph).