Your local authority determines whether you are entitled to Disability Pension
Disability Pension (Førtidspension) may be an option if your work capacity is permanently reduced to such a degree that you are unable to work under ordinary terms or in flexible employment.
You are not entitled to Disability Pension if your loss of work capacity is only temporary or if you are able to improve your work capacity via activation, treatment and such.
To receive Disability Pension, you must also fulfill residential and citizenship requirements.
Your local authorities determine whether you are entitled to Disability Pension. To be qualified you must have been enrolled in a resource clarification process before your local authorities can assess your entitlement to Disability Pension. During the assessment, the local authorities will review a range of factors, e.g., your education, your work experience, and your health.
For the purpose of assessing your work capacity, the authorities will plan a rehabilitation plan for you, in collaboration with yourself. The plan describes your resources and opportunities relative to the requirements of the job market.
It is your local authority that assesses whether or not you are entitled to disability pension.
If you are entitled and you are granted disability pension, Udbetaling Danmark, Pension, will calculate the amount that you can receive and pay it out to your NemKonto.
NemKonto is a normal bank account, that you assign at your bank. All citizens in Denmark are required to have a NemKonto when they receive payments from public institutions.
If you are entitled to disability pension you will receive a letter from Udbetaling Danmark, Pension.
To start receiving the amount that you are entitled to, Udbetaling Denmark, Pension, will need some information from you. The information will be stated in the letter, that you receive.
When you have received the letter from Udbetaling Danmark you can start the payment here:
Special rules may apply to you if you have lived and/or worked in an EU/EEA country, Switzerland, the United Kingdom or a country with which Denmark has signed a convention agreement.
When you apply for a Danish pension, your application automatically applies as an application for a foreign pension from Switzerland or the United Kingdom, as well as the EU/EEA countries and convention countries in which you have earned the right to a pension. Udbetaling Danmark will obtain the relevant information and ensure that that the application is forwarded to the foreign pension authority.
If you move to the United Kingdom after December 31st 2020 you can take the basic amount of your disability pension with you if you are a citizen of Denmark, an EU/EEA country or Switzerland and if you have lived in Denmark for at least 10 years or ¼ of the time from the age of 15 till you were you were granted pension. The period you live in Denmark must be continuous and lie up to the time of your retirement.
You can apply for foreign pension even though you do not receive pension from Denmark.
If you have not lived in Denmark, Greenland or the Faroe Islands for three years, in the period from the age of 15 to the state pension age, you can still receive a national pension if you:
If you aren’t entitled to a full state or disability pension, you might be entitled to part of the pension – also called ‘fractional pension’. Your fractional pension is calculated based on the time you have lived in Denmark during the qualifying period, minus any periods in which you have earned state pension rights from abroad.
Please note, that you will not receive less in personal allowance, heating allowance or health allowance, even if you are only entitled to a fractional pension.
How much you will receive in disability pension depends, among other things, on whether you are single or married/living with a partner.
Your disability pension may be reduced if you or your spouse/cohabitant has an income beyond a certain amount on top of your pensions.
| The monthly amount for disability pension in DKK, before tax (2024) |
||
|---|---|---|
| Single | Married/cohabiting | |
| Disability pension | DKK 20,370 | DKK 17,315 |
You and your spouse/common-law partner can work when you receive a disability pension. However, your disability pension might be reduced depending on your earned incomes.
| Income in DKK per year, before taxes (2024) | |
|---|---|
| You are: | Your disability pension will be reduced if your income(s) exceed: |
| Single | DKK 86,900 |
| Married/living with a partner who is a pensioner | DKK 138,000 |
| Married/living with a partner who is not a pensioner | DKK 138,000 |
You can make a preliminary calculation of your disability pension based on your information here:
It is your local municipiality that makes a decision to put your disability pension on hold. If you live abroad it’s Udbetaling Danmark that makes a decision to put your disability pension on hold. The decision is an assessment, where the amount limit of DKK 232,500 (2024) is included as an element, for the local muncipality or Udbetaling Danmark.
You can also apply for having your disability pension put on hold. If you wish to do so, you must contact your local municipality. You must also contact your local municipality to resume the payment of your disability pension if you are no longer working, or if you believe that you will make less money from a certain point of time. If you live abroad you must contact Udbetaling Danmark.
If you need to help someone else with communicating with Udbetaling Danmark, you must provide a power of attorney. This even applies if you live together, and you just need to talk to Udbetaling Danmark about the other person’s case.
If you need someone else to help you communicating with Udbetaling Danmark, you must first give that person power of attorney. This even applies if you live together, and the other person just need to talk to Udbetaling Danmark about your case.
If you want to give a power of attorney, you can do so with MitID or by signing a written power of attorney.
If you are applying for one of the following social benefits from abroad, your application must be handled by Udbetaling Danmark, International Pension.
In the chart below you can see the case processing time limits:
| Social benefit | Case processing time limits | Average processing time |
|---|---|---|
| State pension |
24 weeks |
15 weeks |
| Deferred state pension | 13 weeks | 3 weeks |
| Personal supplement | 13 weeks |
6 weeks |
| Disability pension |
28 weeks |
18 weeks |
| Senior pension | 28 weeks | 18 weeks |
| Dispensation |
9 weeks |
|
| Danish health care insurance |
3 weeks |
3 weeks |
The case processing time limit period begins the same day Udbetaling Danmark receives your application.
You can help ensure that your application is processed as soon as possible by:
If you are not satisfied with how Udbetaling Danmark has dealt with your case, you are welcome to contact Udbetaling Danmark, Pension. Sometimes misunderstandings can occur and can easily be resolved with a verbal explanation.
You may file a complaint about a decision from Udbetaling Danmark if you disagree with it. A decision can for example be classified as the amount you receive in pension – or any other decision that Udbetaling Denmark makes in your case. You will always receive a letter from Udbetaling Denmark, in which the decision will be stated along with a complaint guide.
Udbetaling Danmark must receive your complaint no later than four weeks after your receipt of the decision. They will then assess the matter again.
If Udbetaling Danmark reject your complaint, they will forward it to the National Social Appeals Board. The National Social Appeals Board is an independent state institution and the highest complaint board for Udbetaling Danmark amongst others.
Udbetaling Danmark will also consider complaints received about other matters in your case and investigate whether there is anything that should have been done differently. You will always receive an answer to your complaint.
You can file a complaint by calling Udbetaling Danmark or sending your complaint to Udbetaling Danmark, Pension, preferably marked ‘Klage over Pension’.
