Supplementary benefits – If you have part-time work while unemployed

If you have part-time work, we will need additional information from you in order to pay supplementary benefits. Once we have received the information from you, we will confirm whether you are eligible for supplementary benefits.

You must always provide us with a copy of your contract. If you do not have a contract, you must submit a paid work disclosure form. The form can be uploaded via "My CA".

Depending on how you are employed, you must usually submit further information:

• Does your contract set out a termination notice?
  If yes, you must submit a release certificate no later than 5 weeks after the employment started. If you were already employed before you became unemployed from your other job or completed your studies, you must submit the release certificate no later than 5 weeks after you applied for benefits. You can  upload the form via "My CA".

• Are you an on-call agency worker or a casual worker without a termination notice?
  If your contract does not set out a termination notice, e.g. if you are an agency worker, a substitute or the like, you do not need a release certificate in order to receive supplementary benefits. If you are an agency worker, you must submit a casual/agency worker form instead. You can upload the form via "My CA".

Deductions from your benefits for paid work

As full-time insured, you will receive benefits for 160.33 hours per month before any deductions are made.

Your work will be deducted from your benefits by way of set-off. The deductions will also be made if you are taking a holiday or are sick.

How are the deductions made

The deductions made in your benefits depend on how you work and what income you receive from your work.

The crucial factor is how your employer reports your work to the Income Register of the Danish Customs and Tax Administration (SKAT):

• If you are paid for a specific number of hours of paid work (A-income), you must declare those hours on your benefit form. In that case, we will deduct your hours from your benefits on a 1:1 basis.
• If you receive B-income or other income without a specified number of hours of paid work, the income will be converted into a number of hours based on a fixed conversion rate of DKK 268.63. For example, an income of DKK 5,000 is converted by dividing it by 268.63 into 18.62 hours, which are then deducted from your benefits.

Read more about Deductions from and set-off against benefits

The minimum payout rule

The minimum number of hours for which benefits can be paid out is 14.8 hours each month. This is known as the minimum payout rule. 

As full-time insured, you will receive benefits for 160.33 hours per month before any deductions are made (for hours worked, holiday, etc.). If the deductions exceed 145.53 hours in any month, you will therefore not receive any benefits for that month.

Example:

If, for example, you have had 113 hours of paid work and taken 1 week of holiday (37 hours), a total of 150 hours will be deducted. This means that you will not be paid benefits for the remaining 10.33 hours. On the other hand, you will not have used them either from the 3,848 hours you are entitled to receive in total.

If you are unemployed, this could be a good time to start self-employed activities on a part-time basis.

We always recommend that you contact us before starting any activity as self-employed. Especially if you have been self-employed in the past. This is because starting up a new activity as self-employed may affect your future benefits right significantly.

Read about the rules on activity as self-employed

Deductions from your benefits for activity as self-employed

All hours spent on your secondary occupation as self-employed will be deducted from your benefits. You must therefore enter the hours you work on your benefit form, regardless of when you work (day, night, weekends). This means that even if you work evenings and weekends, the work will be deducted from you benefits.

You must disclose all hours spent on your business – also non-billable hours (administration, travels, etc.).

The hours worked will be deducted from your benefits on an hour-for-hour basis.

The deductions in benefits will thus be made, regardless of whether your business is making a profit or running at a loss.

The minimum payout rule

The minimum number of hours for which benefits can be paid out is 14.8 hours each month. This is known as the minimum payout rule.

As full-time insured, you will receive benefits for 160.33 hours per month before any deductions are made (for hours worked, holiday, etc.). If the deductions exceed 145.53 hours in any month, you will therefore not receive any benefits for that month.

You may claim supplementary benefits for up to 30 weeks in any period of 104 weeks. However, you are always entitled to benefits for the rest of the month in which the 30th week of supplementary benefits is used.

Please note that your right to receive supplementary benefits can never be stretched longer than your benefits right if you had no part-time work.

Your 30 weeks of supplementary benefits include all part-time work, whether as a salary earner or as self-employed.

The table shows how to use your 30 weeks of supplementary benefits. There is a distinction between self-employed and employee.

You may earn benefits for a new 30-week period – or extend the 30-week period.

You can earn another 30 weeks of supplementary benefits if you have worked enough hours. If, for example, you are paid on a monthly basis, you must have had 6 months in which you were paid for more than 146 hours per month.

If you have not worked enough hours to earn a new 30-week period of supplementary benefits, you may be eligible for an extension of the 30-week period by up to 12 weeks. The period is extended by 4 weeks at a time. If, for example, you are paid on a monthly basis, the period can be extended by 4 weeks for each month in which you were paid for more than 146 hours per month.

Hours of work which have already been used for purposes of extending your supplementary benefits cannot also be used for purposes of earning a new 30-week period.

If you have not worked enough hours to extend the period of supplementary benefits or to earn a new 30-week period of supplementary benefits when the 30-week period expires, you must choose either to:

• continue working without also receiving benefits or
• leave your paid job or close down your business.

We will write you before the 30-week period expires.

Always remember to contact CA if you are considering leaving your paid work, so that you may avoid a suspension period.

Eligible for benefits for a longer period

If you have worked at least 1,924 hours (one year of full-time work) since your last period of unemployment, you will automatically earn a new 2-year period of benefits.

If you have worked less than 1,924 hours, the hours can instead be used to extend the 2-year period by up to 1 year. Each hour worked will entitle you to 2 hours of benefits. If, for example, you have worked 100 hours since your last period of unemployment, you may receive benefits for 200 hours on top of the hours you have left from your last period of unemployment.

We will write you when your benefits right is about to expire. Then you can decide whether to extend your benefits right.

Avoiding waiting days

Every four months we must check to see how many hours you have worked during the past four months and whether we will have to deduct a waiting day.

You will thus avoid waiting days if you have had more than 148 hours of paid work during the past 4 months.

The waiting day deducted corresponds to 1 day of benefits.