Social assistance

The rates from 1 July 2025 are the basic rate, increased rate, minimum rate and rates for people living at home under the age of 30. The following supplements have been introduced: child supplement, single parent supplement, single non-provider supplement, special youth supplement, temporary adaptation supplement and leisure supplement.

If you already receive social assistance, you will receive further information from your municipality about the rate and supplements you can expect to receive from 1 July 2025 if you are still receiving social assistance at that time.

If you want to know more about the new social assistance system, you can contact the municipality.

Social assistance is a common designation of different types of financial support from the municipality you receive when you are not able to support yourself or your family (spouse and children under the age of 18).

The following benefits are included in social assistance:

• cash benefits
• educational assistance
• self-sufficiency and return benefit
• transition benefit.

The amount of social assistance depends, among other things, on your age, whether you are married and whether you have child support obligations.

The municipality where you live will decide which financial support you will receive when you are qualified to receive the support. 

You need to visit the job centre in person on the first day that you are unemployed in order to apply for social assistance. If you do not attend in person to register with the job centre, your application may be refused.

While it may be advantageous to fill out and submit your application electronically, it will not be registered until you have visited the job centre in person.

The online self-service is in Danish.

In order to qualify for benefits as an EU citizen, you must be a citizen of an EU/EEA Member State and have right of residence under Community rules.

For all recipients of social assistance, there is a cap on the total amount of special help for high housing costs ('særlig støtte') and housing benefit ('boligstøtte') that you are entitled to receive. Recipients of social assistance who live in certain special housing due to disability are exempt from the cap.

Your social assistance will not be reduced as a result of the cap, but you may be paid less in housing supplement and housing benefits.

If you do not receive housing benefits, and there is no one in your household who receives housing benefits, the cap will not affect the amount you can receive each month.

How much you can receive in total benefits depends on your age, whether you are a household provider, and whether you are married/cohabiting or single. The amount also depends on the amount of social assistance you receive.

The municipality decides how much you can receive in total per month. Udbetaling Danmark will be informed by the municipality on how much you are entitled to receive in total, and will then calculate what you can be paid in special help for high housing costs and/or housing benefits.

• Calculate what the cap on social assistance and housing allowance might mean for you

You must submit your complaint to the municipality within 4 weeks if you do not agree with:

• your classification in terms of the cap on social assistance and housing rates
• the awarding of special help for high housing costs
• decisions regarding your cohabitation status in relation to your rate classification
• decisions about the collection of overpayments of special help for high housing costs. 

You must submit your complaint to Udbetaling Danmark within 4 weeks if you do not agree with:

• the awarding of housing benefits
• decisions about a reduction in payments of special help for high housing costs and/or housing benefits
• decisions about the collection of overpayments of housing benefits.

• Law amending the Law on active employment promotion, inter alia (in Danish)
• Law amending the Law on active social policy, inter alia (in Danish)
• Law on housing benefits (in Danish)
• Law on active social policy (in Danish)
• Guidelines on rates of sickness benefits, maternity benefits, social assistance, inter alia (in Danish)

• Jobnet.dk in English
• The Danish Agency for Labour Market and Recruitment