Paternity/maternity leave while unemployed
Both mothers and fathers are entitled to take leave after the birth of their child. You can read more about how much paternity/maternity leave you’re entitled to – and learn more about the rules at borger.dk or at the website of the Danish Ministry of Employment.
Paternity/maternity benefits
If you are not paid during all or part of your paternity/maternity leave, you can apply for paternity/maternity benefits from Udbetaling Danmark (Public Benefits Administration) during your leave.
Application for paternity/maternity benefits if you are not unemployed
If you are not unemployed and would like to apply for paternity/maternity benefits, you must ask your employer to visit Virk.dk/barselsdagpenge and inform Udbetaling Danmark (Public Benefits Administration) that you are taking leave.
Your employer can do this on your first day of leave at the earliest. In other words, you should contact Udbetaling Danmark (Public Benefits Administration) and not CA. Learn more at borger.dk
Applying for paternity/maternity benefits when unemployed
If you’re unemployed, it is important that you remember to contact both CA and the jobcenter on the day your paternity/maternity leave begins.
Your Jobcenter will cancel your registration as unemployed, and CA will inform Udbetaling Danmark (Public Benefits Administration) that you are going on leave.
When Udbetaling Danmark (Public Benefits Administration) receives the information, they’ll send a copy of our information for you to confirm.
After your paternity/maternity leave
If you’re unemployed when your leave ends, you must register as unemployed at Jobnet.dk and send a notice of absence to CA.
To receive benefits, you must be available to the labour market again. That means that you must have childcare in place. It is important that you tell your Jobcenter if you can only work at certain hours a day because of the hours of the day nursery or day care facility.
Registering as unemployed at jobnet.dk