Background information

The restrictions in Danish society due to COVID-19 has lead to many self-employed having poorer results in 2020 than previously, which will affect their employment requirements when receiving benefits. As a result, a majority in Parliament has decided to give self-employed the possibility to choose the previous year 2019 where business was normal as reference.

The legal references are: BEK nr 1091 af 01/06/2021 and BEK nr 1090 af 01/06/2021.

The case ties in with an earlier amendment, where a smaller time period (1 December 2020 to 30 April 2021) was disregarded in employment requirements for maternity benefits for self-employed. See case Pregnant self-employed get temporary dispensation for employment requirement for maternity pay in the COVID-19 EU PolicyWatch database.

Content of measure

New executive orders have been issued on the calculation of employment requirements for self-employed concerning sickness and parental benefits. The orders contain amended rules on the calculation, which mean that the self-employed, who due to the COVID-19 crisis and shutdowns had a poor result in 2020, can instead choose to have sickness or parental benefits calculated from the most recent “normal” year, namely 2019. The rule is objective and all self-employed can make the choice. Either the municipality or Udbetaling Danmark (Public Benefits Administration) must inform the self-employed about the possibility and they thereafter have eight weeks to request the change in calculation.

Use of measure

Unknown.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Self-employed	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	No involvement as case not in social partner domain	No involvement as case not in social partner domain
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• No involvement
• Main level of involvement: N/A

Involvement

No involvement.

Views and reactions

No views.

Sources

• 01 June 2021: BEK nr 1091 af 01/06/2021: Bekendtgørelse om opgørelse af beskæftigelseskrav og beregning af sygedagpenge m.v. (www.retsinformation.dk)
• 01 June 2021: BEK nr 1090 af 01/06/2021: Bekendtgørelse om opgørelse af beskæftigelseskrav og beregning af barselsdagpenge m.v. (www.retsinformation.dk)
• 04 June 2021: Nye regler om beregning af syge- og barselsdagpenge til selvstændige (star.dk)