Parental leave as a self-employed person (rules before 2 August 2022)

Note: The Danish rules for parental leave were updated in 2022. This page is for you if your child was born before 2 August 2022. If your child is born after 2 August 2022, you can read about the rules in place here.

When you become parents of a child, you are entitled to parental leave in connection with the birth - also if you are your own employer.

Parental leave consists of pregnancy leave, maternity leave, co-parent leave and parental leave.

Self-employed and on maternity/paternity leave

The maternity/paternity period for the self-employed is divided into four phases:

Pregnancy leave for the mother of four weeks before the expected date of birth.
Maternity leave for the mother of 14 weeks after the birth.
Paternity leave of two weeks within 14 days after the date of birth.
Parental leave of 32 weeks which can be split between the parents.

Read more about maternity/paternity/parental benefits for the self-employed on borger.dk.

When are you self-employed?

You are considered self-employed if the following applies:

you carry out your work at your own expense, at your own risk and in your own name
you are VAT registered and your earnings are taxed as b income
you can hire others to do your work
you yourself pay for materials, office, car and the like
you determine your own working hours
you determine your own salary or fee and the price of any services and goods
you have entered into written cooperation agreements and have several customers
you carry out your work at home or from your own office
you have taken out voluntary business insurance
you are the owner or co-owner of a sole proprietorship, partnership (I/S) or limited partnership (K/S)

If you are employed in your own ApS or A/S, you are a salaried employee.

Pregnancy leave for self-employed professionals: 4 week prior to birth

As a self-employed mother, you are entitled to paid leave for 4 weeks before the expected date of birth. The expected due date is included in the 4 weeks.

If you give birth before the expected due date, the leave period of shortened accordingly. Similarly, if you give birth after the expected due date, the leave is extended.

Parental leave for self-employed professionals: 14 weeks immediately following birth

As a mother, you have the right to parental leave with benefits for 14 weeks after the birth of the child. The leave period starts the day after the birth.

The first two weeks are obligatory, but for the remaining weeks, you may choose to partially resume work and extend the leave by the number of hours you have been working.

Parental leave for the father or co-mother: 2 weeks immediately following the birth

As a father or co-mother, you are entitled to leave immediately following the birth for 14 consecutive days. You may choose to extend the period by partially resuming work and/or splitting the leave into shorter periods during the first 14 weeks following the birth.

You have the right to take the leave immediately following the birth/when receiving the child.

Parental leave for self-employed professional: 32 weeks

After the initial leave, each of you as parents are entitled to 32 weeks of leave. However, you are only entitled to 32 weeks of benefits between you.

You can take your leave immediately after the 14 weeks of leave. As the father/co-mother, you have the right to begin your leave within the first 14 weeks after the birth of the child.

You can take parental leave for a particular number of weeks, after each other or at the same time - of you can split the leave equally between you. If one of the parents is in employment, the leave should be taken in continuation without interruption.

You can also decide to postpone the leave. Note then, that the postponed leave must be taken before the child turns 9.

Finally, you can choose to extend the leave with 8 or 14 weeks. If you do so, the extended leave must be taken immediately after the rest of the leave, and it cannot be combined with other flexible options for taking parental leave, such as part-time leave or postponing leave.

Extension of parental leave does not entail the right to leave benefits in the extension period. You can either choose to receive partial benefits for the full period or receive full benefits for 32 weeks.

Parental leave with partial resumption of work

You can resume working for up to 25% of the week and be on leave for the remaining 75%.

You can also resume work with more than 25 % and up to 50% and be on leave for the remaining 50%.

However, if you work for more than 50% of the week, you are considered to be full-time returned to work.

The time you have been working can be added to your leave. If you have resumed work for 25% in the last 5 weeks of the leave, you can extend your leave with 1,25 weeks.

Postponing parental leave

If you want to save parental leave to take it later, you can either postpone remaining leave or resume work according to the examples above.

The remaining parental leave must be taken before the child turns 9.

When taking the postponed parental leave, you must keep one thing in mind. At the time of taking your postponed leave, you must live up to the employment requirement (beskæftigelseskravet) to receive parental leave benefits as a self-employed person.

Can I receive benefits when I am self-employed?

If you comply with the regulations for how much you have been working before your maternity/paternity leave, you can receive benefits as a self-employed person. The rules are that you are entitled to maternity/paternity benefits if:

You have worked for at least six months within the last 12 months before you go on maternity/paternity leave, and
You have worked in the past month before your maternity/paternity leave, and
You have worked at least half time (18½ hours per week) in your business, and
Your business shows a profit, and
You are in daily physical contact with your child under your leave.

If you meet all these conditions, you can receive benefits as a self-employed person. However, if you have been self-employed for less than six months before you go on maternity/paternity leave, you can include the periods when you have worked as an employee.

Periods where you have received sickness benefit, parental leave or similar benefits do not count as employment.

Your allowance is calculated on the basis of the profit in your company, any income transferred to a working spouse, your own sickness and parental allowance as well as compensation from barsel.dk.

You cannot get parental benefits if your company does not make a profit and you have not taken out insurance through Udbetaling Danmark.

If you have purchased health insurance from Udbetaling Danmark no later than 6 months before you apply for the benefit, you can receive at least two thirds of the maximum parental benefit rate, regardless of how much you have earned.

If you are covered by a waiting period that expires during your leave, with the insurance you will also receive at least two thirds of the maximum maternity benefit rate from the time the waiting period expires.

On borger.dk under 'How much can I get in maternity leave' you can see the current allowance rate:

See unemployment benefit rate for the self-employed on maternity leave at borger.dk

When and how can I apply for parental leave benefits when I am self-employed?

You must apply for parental benefits no later than 8 weeks after the birth of the child. If you start your leave later after the birth, you must apply no later than 8 weeks after the first day of leave.

Apply for allowance for the self-employed at virk.dk

Can I get a refund of the unemployment benefit rate with the maternity fund?

If you are self-employed, and

your child was born on or after 1 January 2021, or you went on leave on or after 1 January 2021
you are entitled to maternity allowance as a self-employed person and
you have an annual income as self-employed higher than the maximum unemployment rate

can you get a refund from Barsel.dk on the difference between unemployment benefit and the maternity fund's ceiling.

You can get a refund from Barsel.dk for the following weeks at birth:

4 weeks before expected delivery to mother
2 weeks as duty leave for mother
2 weeks' leave for father/partner mother (must be within the first 14 weeks)
3 weeks after parental leave (must be taken before the child turns 9)
25 weeks as joint leave that can be shared between the parents.

You use the 25 weeks of joint leave when an employer is paid unemployment benefits reimbursement from the municipality and when maternity benefits have been paid to a self-employed person.

This means that the mother's 14 weeks of maternity leave - however minus the 2 weeks of compulsory leave - counts here, and there is therefore the possibility of reimbursement from Barsel.dk for 13 weeks, which is given to the parent who is only on leave after the end of the 14 weeks.

All periods of unemployment benefit reimbursement according to the Maternity Act count. This means that it is subordinate whether the employer receives reimbursement from another maternity equalization scheme – public or private according to collective agreement – as periods other than earmarked leave where reimbursement of maternity allowance has been paid to the employer are taken from the 25 weeks of joint leave.

When you apply for maternity allowance, you will also automatically apply for a refund from Barsel.dk.

If your company is registered as an ApS or A/S, you are not considered self-employed with the right to reimbursement from Barsel.dk.

See the current rates for reimbursement at virk.dk

How much in benefits are you entitled to?

How much you can get in the benefits depends on how much you have earned in your business. Maternity/paternity benefits for the self-employed are calculated on the basis of:

The profit of your business
Any revenues transferred to an employed spouse
Own sickness and maternity/paternity benefits

In order to obtain full maternity/paternity benefits, you must earn at least DKK 223,600 in revenues (2018) a year.

Health insurance for extra coverage

If you have purchased health insurance from Udbetaling Danmark no later than 6 months before you apply for maternity benefit, you can receive at least two thirds of the maximum maternity benefit rate, regardless of how much you have earned.

If you are covered by a waiting period that expires during your leave, the insurance will also give you at least two thirds of the maximum maternity benefit rate from the time the waiting period expires.

Buy the insurance through Udbetaling Danmark

Career & Legal Advice