Holiday allowance in Denmark

What is a holiday allowance?

Holiday allowance - or ‘feriepenge’ in Danish - is a benefit employers must provide to employees. The Danish workforce consists of employees employed with holiday allowance (typically those paid by the hour) - and full-time employees who get paid vacation days with full pay.

With the new Danish holiday act set in motion , if you’re an employee not included in the collective holiday agreement, you are entitled to a certain amount of holiday allowance to supplement your income during the vacation.

In Denmark, holiday allowance is managed through a system called FerieKonto. FerieKonto is a national holiday fund that collects and manages holiday allowances for employees not included in the collective holiday agreement.

How is holiday allowance calculated?

Holiday allowance is calculated based on the employee’s salary from the previous year. The exact amount is 12,5% of the employee’s total salary, which translates to 2.08 days of holiday per month under the new Holiday Act.

Tip: Read more about how holiday allowance is calculated on LifeinDenmark.dk

Furthermore, other than the standard holiday pay, employees entitled to paid holiday will get a supplement of 1% of the employee’s salary from September to August, the so-called ‘ferietillæg’ - that is an extra holiday bonus.

When is the holiday allowance paid?

Holiday allowance is paid out once per year and you must take holiday to claim your holiday allowance in the vacation period.

After you’ve applied for the holiday allowance, you will receive the money in your NemKonto after a few days. For employees with paid vacation, holiday allowance is translated into paid vacation days.

Employees in Denmark are entitled to five weeks of paid vacation per year, and you can take the holiday you have accrued the month after you’ve accrued it - given that the holiday has been approved by the employer.

That is why It’s typically a good idea to plan your holiday well in advance and inform your employer in a timely manner - if you take a longer vacation, a general rule is that you give notice at least three months before.

How to view and claim your holiday allowance

When an employee with a holiday allowance goes on vacation, they must go to borger.dk to order their holiday allowance. The employee can, in general, get an overview of their holiday pay at FerieKonto.

You can view and claim holiday allowance on borger.dk.

The new Danish Holiday act

The Danish Holiday Act regulates vacation days and holidays which sets out the rules and requirements for vacation entitlements. In September 2020, Denmark introduced new regulations on holiday allowance. These regulations were introduced to ensure that all employees in Denmark were entitled to the same level of holiday allowance.

The act also outlines how vacation days can be earned and paid out. All employees in Denmark are entitled to a minimum of 25 vacation days per year.

In general, employees earn vacation days at a rate of 2.08 days per month worked. Depending on the collective agreement, some employees may be entitled to more than five weeks.

Get your salary to a Danish bank account
Lunar is a Danish, award-winning digital bank. If you become a user, you can open a free Danish bank account that includes a digital card as well as an easy-to-use banking app. You can also open your NemKonto with Lunar, so you can receive payments from the Danish authorities.

With MitID, the sign-up process is easy and 100% digital. And if you’re approved, we can offer you an account within days instead of months.