Pensions

Where are you a member?

Norwegian National Insurance Scheme (NAV)

See NAV's webpages about membership in the National Insurance Scheme (nav.no).

Norwegian Public Pension Fund (SPK)

Criteria for membership

• Membership requires that you are a member of the Norwegian social welfare system.
• Membership requires that you are an employee and that you are paid in accordance with the Basic Collective Agreement.
• Pension rights are contingent on having worked for the state in at least a 20 % position per calendar month. This minimal requirement applies across all employers with membership at SPK.
• Employees paid by the hour and part-time employees are also entitled to membership.

Prerequisites for payment of pension

At least three years of membership of the Norwegian Public Pension Fund is required for the disbursement of a pension.

Monthly-paid employees

Monthly-paid employees pay pension contributions if they have at least a 20 % position.

Hourly-paid employees and part-time employees

Hourly-paid employees and part-time employees have pension contributions deducted if the total number of working hours gives the right to membership. The payroll system calculates this automatically.

People employed by both UiO and other public-sector employers

All work carried out for government agencies must be reported to the Norwegian Public Pension Fund. You can gain membership in the Norwegian Public Pension Fund by working for several public-sector employers, even though the indivivdual employment contracts do not separately give membership rights.

Adjunct professor

For those with a 100 % position with an external employer and an additional position of 20 % at UiO stipulated by the main employer, special rules on the pension qualifying period apply. Read more about the pension qualifying period for adjunct professors (Norwegian).

Comprehensive information

Read more about membership of the Norwegian Public Pension Fund (spk.no) and about how you can gain access to your personal data.

Other pension funds

Some employees at UiO are members of Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP) or other pension funds. This only concerns adjunct professors and dentist instructors with membership in SPK through their principal employment. For comprehensive information contact the pension fund of your principal employer.

Types of pensions

Retirement pension

Your retirement pension shall assure you of a living from the time you turn 67.

Retirement pension from the Norwegian Social Insurance Scheme

• A retirement pension from the Norwegian Social Insurance Scheme is, as a rule, payable from when you turn 67, i.e. from retirement age.
• However, you can start drawing your retirement pension from the age of 62 if you have earned enough pension rights. It is possible to combine work with pension and to draw pension at varying levels. At the online pension service Din pensjon (nav.no) (Norwegian) you can make calculations in order to see when you can draw your pension and what pension level you will be entitled to.
• A retirement pension consists of a basic pension, a supplementary pension and/or a special supplement.

Retirement pension from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund

• As a state employee, you also are a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK). An retirement pension from SPK is a supplement to the retirement pension from the Norwegian Social Insurance Scheme and may be drawn by most people as of the month after turning 67 (pension age). In order to receive retirement pension from SPK as of 67 you must simultaneously apply forretirement pension from the Norwegian Social Insurance Scheme.
• Even if the pension age is 67 years, you are in most positions entitled to work until you have turned 70 (age limit). If you are in a position that has a lower age limit than 70 years you may receive pension up to three years prior to the age limit if the sum of your age and the number of years you have earned pension rights is at least 85.

Coordination

All benefits from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund are to be coordinated with pensions from the Norwegian Social Insurance Scheme. Further information about coordination can be obtained by contacting the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (spk.no).

Pension reform

• The pension reform has brought about a number of changes in the rules governing retirement pension as of 1 January, 2011. The most important changes are new rules for earning pension rights, adjustment for living age, flexible withdrawal as of 62 years and new regulation of the pension.
• The new rules for earning pension rights are introduced gradually for persons born between 1954 to 1962 and fully apply to persons born in 1963 or later.
• Nonetheless, members of public pension funds born in 1958 or earlier are guaranteed to receive 66 % of the basis for the pension upon turning 67, provided they have fully earned pension rights in a 100 % position.
• Read more about what the pension reform implies for your retirement pension at nav.no and spk.no.

Contractual early retirement scheme (AFP)

The contractual early retirement scheme is for government employees and teachers. The scheme is under revision in connection with a new national insurance pension system.

Requirements

In order to apply for AFP, you must:

• have a position covered by the Act relating to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• have at least 10 years¡¯ membership in public occupational pension schemes after turning 50
• be in paid work at the time of retirement with a pensionable income which annually exceeds the basic amount in the Norwegian Social Insurance Scheme (G)
• have had an equivalent pensionable income the year prior to retirement
• have had an average pensionable income of at least 2G during your 10 best years in the period from and including 1967 up to and including the year before taking AFP

Exceptions: Central government employees who are not members of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund or who do not have 10 years of membership in public occupational pension schemes since turning 50, but who in other respects fulfil the conditions for receiving AFP pursuant to the Federation of Trade Unions/Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (LO/NHO) arrangement, receive the same benefits they would have had under the LO/NHO arrangement including the AFP supplement of NOK 1 700 per month.

AFP ¨C full or partial

With employer¡¯s consent, employees with 60% or more of a full-time position can draw part of their pension. The condition is that they continue to work in at least 60% of a full position. Thus it is possible to draw AFP equivalent to a maximum of a 40% reduction in a full position.

Disability pension

If your position is reduced to less than 100 % because of illness or injury, you have the right to a disability benefit from the Norwegian Social Insurance Scheme and a disability pension from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund. A disability pension is normally paid out when you have been on sick leave for one year

Disability pension from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund

• According to Section 27 of the Act relating to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (lovdata.no) (Norwegian), members can apply for a disability pension (spk.no) until they reach the age of 67 if they become unfit for work as a result of illness or injury, and as a consequence their salary is temporarily or permanently reduced. Employees ought initially to apply for sickness pay for as long as they are entitled to it, normally for up to a year. After reaching the age of 67, the disability pensions is altered into a regular retirement pension.
• A full disability pension is equivalent to 66 % of pensionable earnings. The size of the pension also depends on the pensionable service period, degree of disability and percentage of a full position. Total benefits will also depend on whether the employee receives benefits from the National Insurance Scheme.

Disability benefit from the Norwegian Social Insurance Scheme

A disability benefit (nav.no) may be granted if there are no prospects of an improvement in your earning and work capacity. The disability benefit is intended to assure a living for persons whose earning capacity is permanently reduced as a result of illness, injury or impairment.

There are two types of benefits:

• time-limited disability benefits
• disability benefit

Five conditions must be met for a person to have a right to disability benefits:

1. The main rule is that you must have been a member of the National Insurance Scheme for the three years immediately before becoming disabled.
2. You must be aged between 18 and 67.
3. Your earning capacity must be reduced as a result of a long-term illness, injury or impairment. The illness, injury or impairment must also be the main reason for your reduced earning capacity.
4. You must have had appropriate medical treatment and rehabilitation to improve your earning capacity.
5. Your earning capacity must have been reduced by at least 50 per cent.

Coordination

A pension from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund is an occupational pension that is additional to the Norwegian Social Insurance Scheme pension. Coordination (spk.no) (Norwegian) takes place in such a way that latter benefits are paid in full, while the pension from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund is reduced by a coordination deduction. Deductions are made for basic pension, supplementary pension and special supplement, if any.

Termination of employment with a pension

UiO's routines for termination of employment with a pension