There are so many rules to follow when you are unemployed, but we are presenting a selection of those you need to know and follow when you are unemployed and receiving Dagpenge. We will help you to gain an overview and provide some pointers to help you navigate your way through. Our most important task is to help you during this period. Furthermore, we want you to be back in employment as soon as possible!
Feel free to contact us if you need our help.
Just ask us any questions if you are in doubt about anything.
You need to sign on (register) with the Jobcenter from your first day of unemployment. Go into jobnet.dk and register your status as an unemployed recipient of Dagpenge. If you prefer to register in person, you have the possibility to visit your local Jobcenter.
You must declare yourself well after an illness om Jobnet.dk the very first day you are well, and you wish to receive Dagpenge. When you declare yourself well you are automatically signed on.
If you start a full-time job, or for any other reason will no longer receive Dagpenge, you must sign off from Jobnet yourself.
You are signed off automatically if you, for example, stop booking meetings within a given time period. Naturally, you can sign up again if you wish to receive Dagpenge.
An A-Kasse is a private organisation whose function is to provide unemployment insurance for its members. The Danish A-Kasse is an official organisation that follows state legislation concerning unemployment. A-Kasse is obliged to follow and administer the rules that have been passed in the Danish Parliament. Therefore, A-Kasse pays out Dagpenge, severance (“efterløn”) and holiday Dagpenge on behalf of the state.
As a member of Min A-Kasse, our website offers you complete access to self-service and your personal digital post. The website is also where you send information and documents to us, and at the same time receive communication such as messages and letters from us.
For security reasons, all our communication is digital, via self-service using MitID. You are therefore obliged to check your digital post on a daily basis.
Of course, you can always call us, or visit us in person at one of our offices – but we recommend that you learn how to use self-service via our website from the very beginning. This makes it more efficient, quicker and safer to assist you – both for you as our member, and also for us.
To receive Dagpenge, you must register yourself on Jobnet.dk on the first day of your unemployment.
After doing so, you must fill in a Declaration of Unemployment and Availability to Work. You will find this document in the Self-service menu. Once you have done this, we will immediately begin processing your application to check that you fulfil the conditions that make you eligible for Dagpenge. Should we require extra information from you whilst processing your application for Dagpenge, we will send you a message via Self-service. Sometimes we need extra information about matters such as your resignation, further details or other documents.
We are able to retrieve a lot of information about your income ourselves from your payslips and tax statements. We can also see your tax deductions via SKAT. Once we have processed your Declaration of Unemployment and Availability to Work, we will contact you via Self-service. We always communicate our decisions concerning your eligibility and conditions for payment etc. in writing. We will also write to you regarding losing your eligibility for Dagpenge, if you have to pay some Dagpenge back to us, if your Dagpenge is sanctioned because you resigned from your job, or if you do not show up for an offer provided by the Jobcenter.
The hours you have worked are deducted from your Dagpenge, which is why it is important to tell us on your Dagpenge card how many hours you have worked.
Even though you are given reduced working hours, you still need to search actively for jobs, fill in your Joblog and be available for work.
Once your eligibility for Supplementary Dagpenge has been used up after 30 weeks, you can give up your part-time job as an employee without having sanctions imposed on you, even though you have resigned yourself.
If you are self-employed in your own company, you need to decide whether you can manage without Dagpenge, or close your company, after 30 weeks have passed.
It is possible to extend your right to Supplementary Dagpenge by up to 12 weeks.
You can also earn a completely new eligibility for Supplementary Dagpenge for 30 weeks.
If, as an employee, you are covered by a termination notice, you can only receive Supplementary Dagpenge if you can choose your working hours, of if your employer signs a Statement of Release.
Statement of Release means that the employer declares that they agree that you can leave their employment immediately and without notice, if you are offered a full-time job.
You have 5 weeks to obtain your Statement of Release from your employer. The deadline is set from when you start working until the Statement of Release is in the hands of your A-Kasse.
Statement of Release means that the employer declares that they agree that you can leave their employment immediately and without notice, if you are offered a full-time job.
You send your Dagpenge card via self-service.
Your Dagpenge is paid in arrears each month. In self-service, you can sign up for a notification reminding you to send in your Dagpengekort. You must send it to us no later than a month + 10 days after that month as covered by the Dagpenge card. Otherwise, you risk losing your Dagpenge.
All the information you need to give us is stated in the guide to filling in the Dagpenge card. We recommend that you read the instructions before sending the Dagpenge card to us.
While you are unemployed, you are unconditionally obliged to inform us of any circumstances at all that can affect your rights.
For example, you are obliged to always inform us if, during one month, you have had an income, work, taken holiday, been ill or any other situations that can affect your right to Dagpenge.
As a rule, you can only receive Dagpenge for the days/hours where you have been fully available to work, but have been unemployed.
Your local municipality is responsible for the local Jobcenter. Jobcenters have the concrete task of helping all unemployed citizens into work and helping companies to find the employees they need.
Jobcenters exchange personal data about you with your A-Kasse, such as your Joblog.
Jobcenters use the website Jobnet.dk as an online platform for job-seekers and employers across the whole country.
Jobnet.dk offers a host of facilities you must use once you have registered yourself as unemployed. It is here that you upload your online CV, book meetings with the Jobcenter and keep yourself oriented on arrangements and activities.
Jobcenters follow developments in the Danish job market and together with the regions, contribute to creating a statistical overview of Denmark’s employment situation.
All unemployed citizens will have and individual contact plan designed .
This contact plan departs in the individual’s situation and consists of a series of meetings that cover job-seeking, as well as regular knowledge-sharing and follow-up dialogues.
During the first 3 months of your unemployment, you are obliged to participate in monthly meetings at the A-kasse and later on at the Jobcenter.
The Jobcenter will inform you about available jobs that match your competences. When you receive a job referral, you are obliged to either take the job or apply for it, under the same conditions as other unemployed persons.
The Jobcenter has responsibility for “Min Plan”, which begins if unemployment continues.
It is essential that your CV contains all the relevant information about your educational and professional work background, and other data that would be relevant for companies.
You must also remember to include your contact details, so companies and the Jobcenter can contact you.
Within the first 2 weeks of your unemployment, you will be invited to a 1:1 meeting to discuss your CV. If you have not had your CV approved within this 2 week period, you will lose your right to receive Dagpenge. You will remain ineligible for Dagpenge until your CV has been approved.
Before attending this meeting, it is important that your CV has already been uploaded into Jobnet. You are responsible for keeping your CV updated regularly while you are unemployed.
During this meeting, we will go through and approve your CV, make sure that it contains all the necessary information, and check that this information that is clearly visible to both potential employers and the Jobcenter.
We will also enter into an agreement on “Krav til jobsøgning” (“ Job-searching Requirements”) and prepare “Min Plan” – “My Plan”.
This agreement sets the framework for how you should search for jobs, which job sectors you should focus on, and the geographical scope of your search.
You are obliged to apply for permanent, full-time positions (with either part-time or full-time insurance).
You must apply primarily for advertised jobs, and your applications should meet the standards expected from your sector.
It is important to remember that part of your commitment to being available for work is to fulfil your obligation to actively search for work during your period of unemployment.
As long as you follow the rules explained to you, you will retain your right to receive Dagpenge. Following both the job-searching requirements expected of you, and filling in your Joblog regularly, confirm your availability for work. We are focused on your continual and active efforts to find work.
You must be able to demonstrate the initiatives you are actively taking to find work.
The information you provide in your digital Joblog provides both us and the Jobcenter with an overview of how your job-searching is functioning. Your job-searching must be as effective, serious and as focused as possible.
Each week, you must apply for a sufficient number of jobs, in relation to the amount of jobs offered within the sectors agreed upon in your plan. You must also be willing to apply for jobs you can do within other branches, if there are not enough positions to apply for in your main sector.
If you are insured full-time, you must apply for permanent full-time positions (37 hours per week). If you are insured part-time, you must apply for part-time positions (30 hours per week).
You must upload examples of your actual job applications each month in your Joblog.
If you do not fulfil these conditions, and are not considered to be fully available for work, you will lose your right to Dagpenge.
You must:
• Have residence and right of stay in Denmark
• You must be registered as unemployed at the Jobcenter
• You must check your digital and ordinary post on a daily basis
• You must be able to take a job at the start of the working day from one day to the next
• You are prepared to take a job that has up to a total of 3 hours’ commuting time (using public transport)
• You book meetings with both the Jobcenter and your A-Kasse yourself
• You are able to attend meetings with your A-Kasse, the Jobcenter or the external cooperative partner
• You are able to participate in activities and offers the day after you have received an invite
In general, you will hold contact with the Jobcenter and A-Kasse by attending meetings and activities, and informing us of holiday or illness while you are unemployed.
My Plan is designed to help you with your job search. It contains an overview of the possibilities offered to you from the Jobcenter to improve or support your job-searching opportunities.
The Jobcenter activates My Plan if you need some concrete offers to help you. You are obliged to undertake the activities offered to you.
It is the Jobcenter’s responsibility to notify you before the offers begin and decide exactly what these offers contain. The Jobcenter will send this information to your E-Boks.
Some of the offers involve Jobcenters making agreements with educational institutions or firms to undertake the task. When external organisations are involved, this 3rd party is called a “cooperative partner”.
The external cooperative partner will function just as the Jobcenter would have done, if they were to undertake the task themselves.
The Dagpenge system in Denmark has been in existence for over 100 years.
It has changed over time, but from the very beginning it has been built up in the spirit that as long as the information you supply is correct, we will honour our duty in the very same spirit, by giving you the right to receive Dagpenge.
If it transpires that the information you provided is not correct, and if you wrongly received Dagpenge, then we expect you to pay it back.
We will always assess the reason for paying back Dagpenge.
If the cause is an unintentional error or carelessness on your part, you will be given a period of sanction of up to 37 hours.
If it is discovered that you have deliberately given your A-Kasse the wrong information, a serious period of sanction of up to 962 hours will follow. We are also obliged to report this to the police.
You are obliged to attend meetings and activities at the Jobcenter, A-Kasse and with the external cooperative partner.
If you do not attend, it will cost you your Dagpenge.
If you have legitimate reasons, and you have informed us of your inability to attend beforehand, this will not affect your right to Dagpenge.
If you have resigned from your job yourself, refuse referrals and offers from the Jobcenter, or fail to participate in offers, you are considered as being responsible for your own unemployment, according to the rules.
If you are responsible for your own unemployment, you will sanctioned for a period of 3 weeks. This means that you will lose your right to receive Dagpenge for 3 weeks.
If a situation arises where you are unsure about your eligibility for Dagpenge, it is always a good idea to speak with us to solve the issue.
The problem does not disappear if you ignore it, and will possibly become much worse!
It is possible to receive Dagpenge while you are taking vocational training lasting up to 6 weeks.
Before applying for education, you would have received Dagpenge for 5 weeks. Furthermore, the education must be taken and completed within 6-9 months of your unemployment. You cannot apply for vocational training if you have a higher education. The training offered is practical in nature, and on the level of AMU or individual subjects at business college.
Please contact the Jobcenter and educational institution well before the educational course begins.
Whilst receiving Dagpenge, it is also possible to participate in other forms of education, such as on state school level, evening classes, singular college subjects under 20 hours per week, and other such education that does not entitle you to SU.
Should you wish to enrol onto educational courses, you must inform us.
It is necessary for you to have approval from your A-Kasse, and while you are taking training, you must still be fully available for work, and be actively looking for jobs.
The job cafes give you the chance to gain tips and advice about your CV and job applications. You will gain knoweldge about recruitment processes and job interviews and you will learn how to use LinkedIn. You will gain inspiration for new methods for job-searching.
We gladly invite external guest speakers to these job cafes to talk to you about the current job market and hear what recruiters are looking out for. Our guest speakers will also talk about current job-hunting trends on social media, etc.
Our members are pleased to have this great possibility to be updated and at the same time have the opportunity to broaden their network. Members also receive sparring about the jobs market in general, and their own job-searching strategy.
Min A-Kasse also offers cooperation with experts who offer great job-searching tools and who know a great deal about how and where you can find your next job.
Please contact us or look at our website, where you will be able to find further information about our jobcafe and other activities
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Read more about CV interview and unemployment benefits on our website.