Senior Pension

In Denmark it is not possible to receive your state pension before your state pension age, regardless of your state of health. But it may be possible to receive senior pension, if you are no longer able to work due to ill health.

Senior pension gives people with many years of employment the opportunity to leave the labor market early.

 You need to meet following conditions to receive Senior Pension: 

• You must have a maximum of six years until the state pension age.
• You must have a permanently reduced working capacity to the extent that you can work no more than 15 hours per week. Your ability to work is assessed in relation to your most recent job. This means that it does not have to be investigated whether you may be able to handle a different type of job than the one you have.
• You must have worked for at least 27 hours a week for 20-25 years.  

As a rule, you must also:

• Be a Danish citizen
• Have permanent residence in Denmark
• Have lived in Denmark for at least three years from the age of 15 until you reached retirement age.

Even if you do not meet the conditions, you may still be entitled to a senior pension if you meet one of the following conditions:

• You are a citizen of another EU/EEA country or Switzerland and have had a total of at least 3 years of earned entitlement to pension from an EU/EEA country or Switzerland, of which at least 1 year was earned in Denmark.
• You have lived in Denmark for at least ten years during the period, from the age of 15 until you reach the retirement age. Please note that you must have lived in Denmark for at least five years until you receive your pension.
• You are a refugee. You must be a refugee and have been granted a residence permit in accordance with section 7 or section 8 of the Immigration Act. Please note that other rules apply if you have arrived in Denmark after 1 September 2015. 

The amount you can receive in senior pension depends on your income and on your cohabiting relationship.

If you are married or cohabiting, your senior pension can be reduced if you or your spouse/cohabitant has an income that is above a certain amount next to your senior pension.

Senior pension per month in DKK before tax (2024 and 2023)

Your senior pension might be inactivated if you can support yourself

Your senior pension can be inactivated if you work more than 15 hours a week and over a longer period earn more than DKK 232.500 (2024) / DKK 224.640 (2023) per year.

An inactivation of your pension means that your payment stops.

You can apply for senior pension online or by post. 

To apply online, go to:

• Apply for Senior Pension with MitID

If you are unable to apply for senior pension online, you can request a paper version of the application form by contacting Seniorpension:

• Contact Seniorpension  

If you need help with your application, please your municipality. The application is only available in Danish at the moment.

You can apply six months before you reach the official age requirement

To be entitled to senior pension you must have six years or less until the state pension age. However, you can apply already six months before you reach the age requirement for senior pension.

Seniorpension processes your application and decides whether or not you are entitled to receive Senior Pension.

If you are entitled and you are granted Senior Pension, Udbetaling Danmark, Pension, will calculate the amount that you can receive and pay it out to you 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.

You will receive letters form Seniorpension and Udbetaling Danmark, Pension

You will receive a letter from Seniorpension, if you are entitled to it and latter a letter from Udbetaling Danmark, Pension.

To start receiving the amount that you are entitled to, Udbetaling Danmark, 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:

• Start payment of senior pension (MitID)

Udbetaling Danmark, Pension, will pay out your Senior Pension to your NemKonto on the last banking day each month. Senior Pension is paid in arrears – fx your pension for March will be paid out at the end of March. 

Your Senior Pension is automatically changed to State Pension when you reach state pension age.  

 You will receive a letter from Udbetaling Danmark 6 months before you reach the state pension age.     

• Read more about State Pension

Read more about the rules for taking your Senior Pension with you when you move abroad:

• International Pension - Taking Danish State, Senior or Disability Pension abroad

You can find your municipality's telephone number on the municipality's website.

• Contact Udbetaling Danmark, Pension

You will receive a decision no later than 6 months after you have applied. This is the time it takes to process your application.

If you wish to complain about the processing of your application

If you are not satisfied with how Seniorpension has dealt with your application, you are welcome to contact Seniorpension. Sometimes misunderstandings can occur and can easily be resolved with a verbal explanation.

If you disagree with a decision

Seniorpension processes your application and decides if you are entitled to receive Senior Pension. Therefore, you should contact Seniorpension if you disagree with their decision. Seniorpension must receive your complaint, no later than 4 weeks after you have received the decision.

• Contact Seniorpension

It is Udbetaling Danmark, Pension, that calculates and pays out Senior Pension. You are welcome to contact Udbetaling Danmark, Pension, if you are dissatisfied with the calculation or payment of your Senior Pension. If you disagree with a decision from Udbetaling Danmark, you can appeal against it. Payment Denmark must have your complaint, no later than 4 weeks after you have received the decision.

• Contact Udbetaling Danmark, Pension

How to file a complaint to Seniorpension

You can file a complaint by calling Seniorpension or sending your complaint til Seniorpension, preferably marked 'Klage over Senior Pension'. 

• Contact Senior Pension

How to file a complaint to Udbetaling Danmark

You can file a complaint by calling Udbetaling Danmark or sending your complaint to Udbetaling Danmark, Pension, preferably marked ‘Klage over Senior Pension’.

• Contact Udbetaling Danmark, Pension

• Lov om social pension (In Danish - new window)
• Bekendtgørelse om social pension (In Danish - new window)
• Bekendtgørelse om seniorpension (In Danish - new window)