1 December was the final deadline for payouts for up to three weeks' worth of frozen holiday allowance. The employees' holiday allowance fund has received and is processing the final requests, and the self-service portal on borger.dk is now closed.
Between 29 September and 1 December 2020, 2.3 million employees applied for payouts. The Holiday Allowance Fund has approved the payouts of 51.6 billion Danish kroner before tax.
Peter Hummelgaard, Minister for Employment:
“It’s good to see that so many Danes have chosen to have their holiday pay paid out. It seems that the money has been put to work in the Danish economy, which has been much needed due to the coronavirus crisis. It’s probably not all of the holiday pay that has been put to work yet, but I imagine that December and the Christmas shopping season will give a further boost to spending in Danish businesses.”
The vast majority of employees have therefore chosen to have their holiday allowance funds paid out, whilst a smaller proportion, amounting to up to 700,000 employees, have chosen to leave their frozen holiday allowance in their pension savings with the Holiday Allowance Fund. A further approx. 9 billion Danish kroner could have been paid out, but this amount now remains under management in LD Pensions. A large proportion of this belongs to people aged 50–60 who have left the money in their accounts until retirement age.
Dorrit Vanglo, Director of LD Pensions:
“We are pleased that, at the Holiday Allowance Fund, we have been able to offer simple and swift payouts to so many citizens. This has supported the political aim of stimulating the Danish economy during a difficult time. At the same time, we are pleased to accommodate those employees who have opted to have their funds saved rather than receive payouts. We look forward to providing Danish employees with a very good supplement to their other pension schemes.”
The Government will be discussing the payouts for the final two weeks of holiday allowance with the parties in the Danish Parliament in the coming period. Employers must inform the Holiday Allowance Fund by 31 December 2020 at the latest of the amount of holiday pay each individual has accrued. It is estimated that the final two weeks’ worth of holiday pay amounts to DKK 40 billion.
Exemption from the deadline
If you have been unable to apply on time due to a long-term illness or other special circumstances, you may be granted an extension to the 1 December 2020 deadline. The Holiday Allowance Fund assesses whether the conditions for an exemption have been met.
Key facts
- 2.3 million employees have opted to have up to three weeks' holiday allowance paid out.
- Payouts totalling 51.6 billion Danish kroner have been approved.
- The amount for payouts has been calculated based on information from the Danish Tax Agency regarding earnings from 1 September 2019 to 31 March 2020.
- Up to 700,000 employees have chosen to leave their holiday allowance in their new savings account.
- Requests for payouts made by 1 December 2020 at the latest will be processed, even though the self-service portal is now closed. There are currently around 6,000 requests still being processed by The Holiday Allowance Fund.
Press release issued by the employees' holiday allowance fund on 2 December 2020.
