Forsikring & Pension has called on the Danish parliament to abolish current rules around spousal set off when they meet for negotiations in the coming days.

Spousal set off regulations mean that retiree’s benefits are reduced if their spouse is still in work.

Forsikring & Pension stated that the rules currently affect more than 50,000 Danish households, and Danes are being “punished financially” as a result.

It added that Folketing had the opportunity to increase the labour supply by 1,650 people if they implement the government’s proposal to get rid of the policy.

“Over time, a lot of handles have been screwed on to get more Danes into jobs,” commented Forsikring & Pension CEO, Kent Damsgaard. 

“But the abolition of set off, which affects 50,000 Danish households, is probably the most obvious place to start right now. 

“So we will to that extent call on the Folketing to take a stand against the set-off rules.”

The proposal to abolish the policy is part of the government’s wider proposals in ‘Denmark can do more’.

Damsgaard added that is was “obviously a problem” when a society punishes people financially by offsetting a spouse’s pension if their partner gets a job.

“If we abolish the spouse offsetting, it will be able to increase employment by 1,650 people, because it will be more attractive to work - even when the spouse receives a public pension benefit,” he stated.

“The government's proposal will also mean that the old-age savings scheme, which does not trigger set off in public benefits at retirement age, can be used by far more Danes. 

“This is really good news for many Danes - and not least unskilled and skilled employee groups.”

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