To answer this question, it’s important to first distinguish between the two main types of unemployment benefit in Denmark, dagpenge and kontanthjælp. 

Dagpenge or ‘unemployment insurance’ comes from voluntary membership of a private association known as an A-kasse, short for arbejdsløshedskasse, and doesn’t automatically apply if you lose your job. You have to fulfil some requirements first in order to be eligible.

However, if you are an A-kasse member and fulfil the eligibility criteria, you may be eligible for unemployment benefits comprising up to 90 percent of your previous salary.

If you are not an A-kasse member and become unemployed, your income will rely on the much more basic state benefit kontanthjælp, a term which can be translated to ‘social assistance’.

READ ALSO: Who is eligible for Danish unemployment benefits?

Dagpenge

When on dagpenge, you are permitted to take holiday – essentially, holiday from the job searching obligations you must fulfil while receiving dagpenge, which include sending a set number of job applications each week and being available to take a job at short notice.

You do not receive dagpenge payments for the period in which you are on holiday. Instead, you must use holiday you have accrued, either with your last employer or as “holiday dagpenge” or feriedagpenge.

In order to do this, you must inform the local job centre to which you are attached (via the jobnet.dk portal), as well as your a-kasse, that you intend to take holiday.

The job centre must be informed no later than 14 days before the holiday begins, and the A-kasse before the first day of the holiday.

You may still have some holiday or feriepenge accrued from your previous job, in which case this will form the income for your holiday.

READ ALSO: Feriepenge: Denmark’s vacation pay rules explained

In other cases, you may have accrued holiday during the period in which you have been between jobs and in receipt of dagpenge, or, if you are on parental leave, barselsdagpenge,  the allowance paid out by municipalities to persons on statutory parental leave.

In these latter two cases, you can apply for feriedagpenge, which is paid out as a form of salary – instead of regular dagpenge – for the period in which you are on holiday.

This is done by applying via your a-kasse. This should be done at least five weeks before you go on holiday. Generally, there should be an application link on the a-kasse’s website, which you can use once you have logged into the portal using your MitID digital ID.

To qualify for feriedagpenge, you need to fulfil several criteria. You accrue 2.08 days of holiday foreach month you have received dagpenge. You may not use the holiday to cover sickness or for any period in which you earned a wage. You must be an a-kasse member.

You should also keep in mind that if you don’t use the holiday you have accrued, it can lapse. For example, the accrual period for holiday in 2023 was September 1st 2022-August 31st 2023. This holiday was valid until the end of 2023.

The amount you receive is calculated at the same rate as the regular dagpenge.

Sources: Krifa, Aka, FOA

Kontanthjælp

If you are not an A-kasse member and receive the basic kontanthjælp benefit, you should contact your local job centre.

Persons who receive the lower hjemrejseydelse or integrationsydelse, which is given instead of kontanthjælp to migrants who are in the integration system, are not permitted to take holiday.

READ ALSO: Denmark to allow people on unemployment benefits to spent a night abroad

Persons who receive kontanthjælp can take up to four weeks of holiday after 12 months of being on the benefit, but no more than two weeks at a time.

The holiday must be taken within the given accrual year and can be taken as single days or weeks, as well as in two-week blocks. It must be agreed with the job centre at least two weeks before the holiday begins.

The job centre will review the application and decide whether to approve it, taking into account factors like planned family holiday, job activation and planned training courses.

You are permitted to take the holiday outside of Denmark but if you get sick, it cannot be rescheduled.

If you have accrued holiday from a past employment, this must be used before you receive social assistance during a holiday. You do not keep holiday which you have the right to from a period on kontanthjælp if you later get a job – in other words, you will have to accrue holiday through your job before you take time off once back at work.

Source: Aarhus Municipality