Disability pension

For many people, the support from NAV (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) isn’t enough to survive on. You can get a maximum of 66 per cent of your salary up to 6G, which is a maximum disbursement of just over NOK 350 000.

You don’t get any compensation for salaries over 6G, so if your salary is higher than this, you’ll experience an especially large drop in income should something happen.

NAV’s (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) statistics show that the most common causes of becoming incapacitated for work in Norway today are mental illnesses and musculoskeletal diseases. An annual increase in the number of young people who are incapacitated for work has also been reported.

If an illness or accident means that you can no longer work, you’ll no longer receive the same monthly salary either. NAV (the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) only covers some of the income you had before, and it may be that you’ll need to survive on just half.

Becoming incapacitated for work can happen suddenly and have long-term financial consequences. It’s a good idea to think about whether you’ll manage to live your current lifestyle with a potentially significantly lower salary.

A recipient of a disability pension can receive an income without the degree of disability changing. The disability disbursement is reduced with income beyond a tax-free limit, but the degree of disability remains in the event that you can no longer work.

If you’re not able to work as much as before anymore and your income is reduced, disability pension disbursements will again increase. In the event of increased incapacity for work, the degree of disability can be increased after a more detailed evaluation.

Employees may also have the right to a disability pension from a previous employer. The sum of all of the payments must not become too high relative to earned income.

The cut-off rules state that disability pensions from the business’ pension scheme must be reduced until the person who is incapacitated for work constitutes the highest of either the disability pension set by the pension plan, or the sum of the disability pension earned at the previous employer.