Pension

The vast majority of government employees are covered by a pension scheme as part of their conditions of employment by law or collective agreement.

The pension contribution rate and which pension fund an employee is covered by varies depending on the type of employment and thus also the collective agreement that is linked to the employment.

The pension rates follow the collective agreements and organisational agreements in force at any given time.

For specific questions regarding your pension, you should contact your own pension company. SDU HR cannot advise on pension planning.
At borger.dk you can also find information about pension and early retirement, including how to plan your pension.

Here you can get an overview of compulsory contributions paid by the university in connection with salary payments and optional pensions. You can also see how you can contribute more to your pension if you wish.

Pension paid out as salary or paid into a savings account

From April 2025, some of SDU's employees will have new options when it comes to pension contribution rate. If the pension contribution rate exceeds 15%, there is now freedom of choice for the part of the pension contribution that exceeds 15%. As an employee, you can choose either

• have the part that exceeds 15% paid out as salary
• paid into a savings scheme in the pension fund or
• a combination of payment as salary and payment into a savings scheme.

If you take no action, the part of the pension contribution rate that exceeds 15% will be paid into your ordinary pension scheme.

The timetable here shows pension rates as of 1 April 2025.

Already employed

Employees at SDU - with a pension contribution rate above 15% - can choose to have the excess paid out as salary, deposited in a savings scheme in the pension fund, or both. The rules for this came into effect in April 2025.

If the employee takes no action, the part of the pension contribution rate that exceeds 15% will be paid into the regular pension scheme.

In April 2025, SDU HR published a news item on SDUnet regarding the handling of the scheme for employees who wanted to make use of the above options effective from April 2025.

A deadline of 12 June 2025 was set for existing employees who wanted to make use of the option of payment as salary, payment to a savings scheme in the pension fund or a combination of the options.

The changes you were able to submit are permanent.

Going forward:

If you wish to make use of the above options, but did not do so by the deadline, you will be able to report this to SDU HR, Payroll in September 2025 and with effect from 1 October 2025. This means that your requested changes will take effect from 1 October 2025 and going forward and not retroactively.

In September 2025, SDU HR will open up for requested changes via a form that will be available on this page. The form will be opened and can be used in September 2025.

Thereafter, it will only be possible to make changes as of 1 April each year via a forms form.

New hires

Form for chosing pension (in connection with employment)

Obligatory contributions

Labor market contributions
All workers and self-employed persons must pay 8% of their income in labour market contributions.

The University subtracts the contribution each time it pays out a salary.

The labour market contribution is deducted from, among other things, salaries and other renumeration, holiday allowances, severance payments, the value of company car and free phone as well as contributions to pension schemes.

ATP - lifelong pension

The ATP Livslang Pension scheme is a supplementary pension that is, as a general rule, statutory. As a starting point, SDU must thus pay ATP contributions for all employees employed by the University in Denmark – regardless of whether the employee is a Danish or a foreign national.

SDU automatically deducts the contribution each time the University pays out a salary. The University pays two-thirds of the contribution. The remaining third is the employee’s own contribution. The law also allows for voluntary payment in a number of cases.

The ATP Livslang Pension will be paid out for as long as the person in question lives – that is, from when the person becomes a pensioner until he or she dies. However, pensions below a certain amount are paid out as a lump sum.

The amount of the person’s pension savings depends on how much money has been paid into their scheme over the years.