English

Basis for calculation of parental benefit

Parental benefit (foreldrepenger) is calculated on the basis of the size of your usual income. Your usual income level is determined by means of individual assessment.

You will not receive parental benefit for that part of your income that exceeds six times the national insurance basic amount (“G”). On 1 May 2012 the national insurance basic amount (G) was NOK 82 122.

How parental benefit is calculated depends on whether you are employed or whether you work for yourself. We divide income into three different categories:

• Earned income:

Earned income (arbeidsinntekt) is pay or some other form of remuneration given to everyone who works in another person’s service.

• Business income:

Business income (næringsinntekt) is income earned by people who run a long-term business enterprise at their own expense and risk.

• Freelance income:

Freelance income (inntekt for frilanser) is income earned by people outside another person’s service who perform work or assignments for pay or some other form of remuneration.

NAV also considers the following aspects in its assessment:

• Your current income.
• The average of your pensionable income over the last three years.
• Your employment situation. For example, you must provide information about whether you have changed jobs recently, whether your pay level has changed and whether you have increased or reduced your working hours.

Special rules apply to people who have several types of income. Contact your NAV office for more information about this.

Income that is included

Income on the basis of which parental benefit is calculated includes earned income and remuneration as a result of your own work that earns national insurance pension points.

Income that is not included

The following types of income are not included in the basis on which parental benefit is calculated: overtime pay, holiday pay, payment in kind and remuneration to cover (in full or in part) work-related expenses.

The main rule for calculation of parental benefit for employees

The starting point for calculation is the income you have when your benefit period starts. NAV compares this income with the average of your pensionable income over the last three years. NAV takes factors linked to your employment situation at the time you applied into account and assesses whether to use your current income or the average of your pensionable income over the last three years as the starting point for calculation of parental benefit.

Example:

An applicant states that she has just finished studying and has started in a permanent job with an annual salary of NOK 350,000. The applicant worked part-time while she was a student, yielding an average pensionable income over the last three years of NOK 130,000. NAV concludes that her income at the beginning of the benefit period is representative of her earned income. In this assessment, importance was attached to the fact that the applicant has completed her studies and now has a steady job. The basis for calculation of the parental benefit is therefore NOK 350,000.

The main rule for calculation of parental benefit for self-employed people

The basis for calculation of parental benefit is usually the average of your pensionable income over the last three years. Nevertheless, NAV always considers whether this income is representative in light of information about your work situation that you provide when you submit your application. If there has been a permanent change in your work situation or enterprise entailing a change in your income too, NAV may decide to use the income you have at the beginning of the benefit period as the basis for calculation of parental benefit.

Example:

An applicant has an average pensionable income for the last three years of NOK 450,000 kroner, but currently has an annual income of NOK 250,000. The applicant states that he was previously employed, but has now resigned from his position and started his own company, i.e. he is now self-employed. NAV concludes that the average of his pensionable income is not representative of his current work situation. In this decision, importance has been attached to the fact that the change is permanent. NAV therefore concludes that the income the applicant has at the beginning of the benefit period is representative of his work situation. The basis for calculation of the parental benefit is therefore NOK 250,000.

The main rule for calculation of parental benefit for freelancers

The basis for calculation of parental benefit is usually the average of your pensionable income over the last three years. Nevertheless, NAV always considers whether this income is representative in light of information about your work situation that you provide when you submit your application. If there has been a permanent change in your work situation or enterprise entailing a change in your income too, NAV may decide to use the income you have at the beginning of the benefit period as the basis for calculation of parental benefit.

The main rule for calculation of parental benefit for people receiving other benefits

• If you are unemployed and receive unemployment benefit (dagpenger), the basis for calculation of parental benefit will be the same as the amount you receive in unemployment benefit. For pregnant women who are wholly or partly unemployed and receive unemployment benefit (dagpenger), the basis for calculation of parental benefit can be defined as the best six of the last ten months before the benefit period starts, if this is greater.
• If you are doing military or civil conscript service or mandatory civil defence service, the basis for calculation of parental benefit shall be at least three times the national insurance basic amount (G).
• If you are receiving work assessment allowance (arbeidsavklaringspenger), the basis for calculation of parental benefit will be equal to the amount you receive in work assessment allowance.
• If you are receiving sickness benefit (sykepenger), pregnancy benefit (svangerskapspenger), training allowance (opplæringspenger), attendance allowance (pleiepenger) or care benefit (omsorgspenger), the parental benefit you are entitled to receive will be calculated on the same basis as was used to calculate these benefits.
• If a period of parental benefit leads to accumulation of rights to a new period of parental benefit (i.e. if there is a short gap between the birth or adoption of two children), it is the amount of parental benefit actually paid out in the first period that forms the basis for calculation of the second round of parental benefit. This means that if you have earned the right to receive new parental benefit while you were receiving parental benefit at the rate of 80 per cent benefit, it is this amount that will form the basis for the new period of parental benefit.

Previous periods where you received time-limited disability benefit (uførestønad), medical rehabilitation allowance (rehabiliteringspenger) and occupational rehabilitation benefit (attføringspenger) do not entitle you to parental benefit.