When Denmark’s new holiday act took effect in September, people began earning time off and holiday allowance on a monthly basis, rather than annually, which was the case under the previous system. In connection with the changeover to the new system, the value of the time off people had earned between September 2019 and August 2020 was banked on their behalf. The idea was that the money would be paid out when you left the labour market, either as a pensioner or because you moved away from Denmark.
But then along came corona.
In order to put more money in people’s hands and boost the economy, the Folketing decided to allow people to claim up to three of the five banked weeks of holiday allowance.
Claiming your holiday allowance
- Starting on 1 October, you will be able to have up to three weeks of banked holiday allowance paid out. Requests are submitted on-line at borger.dk. You will need a NemID log-in solution, but you don’t need any form of documentation.
- A few days after submitting your request, you will be informed how much money you will receive and when you can expect to receive it - It should take about two weeks from the date of submitting your request.
- If you don’t ask for the money to be paid out now, it will remain banked until you begin receiving old-age pension (folkepension), relocate away from Denmark or leave the Danish labour market for some other reason and request to have the money paid out.
Please note that only holiday allowance earned between 1 September 2019 and 31 March 2020 is eligible to be paid out under this scheme. Any holiday allowance you earned between 1 April and 31 August of this year will remain banked until you begin receiving old-age pension or leave the Danish labour market.
Apply for your frozen holiday funds no later than december 2020.