Feriepenge and Holiday Rules in Denmark: How Holiday Pay Works

Since 2020 Denmark uses concurrent holiday: you can take the days you earn in the same holiday year, rather than waiting a year as under the old system. The holiday year runs 1 September to 31 August, and you have a further four months, until 31 December, to use the days you accrued.

Salaried employees with holiday-with-pay (ferie med løn) simply keep receiving their normal salary while on holiday, plus a holiday supplement of at least 1% of the annual salary. Others accrue 12.5% of gross earnings as feriepenge, which is held by the employer or the FerieKonto fund and paid out when the holiday is taken.

Both routes are worth the same amount overall. The difference is only who holds the money until you use the days.

Unused holiday accrual is converted into feriepenge and transferred to FerieKonto. You claim it via borger.dk when you take the holiday, and it must be requested — money left unclaimed after the deadline can be forfeited to the state holiday fund.

If you leave Denmark permanently, you can normally apply to have outstanding feriepenge paid out without taking holiday. Do this before you deregister your Danish address if possible.

You can take holiday while unemployed, but you must register it with your a-kasse in advance. Days covered by feriepenge are not paid as dagpenge — you cannot receive both for the same day, and unregistered absence counts as being unavailable for work.

Many collective agreements add a sixth week of holiday or extra care days (feriefridage) on top of the statutory five weeks. Danish public holidays are separate again and depend on your contract. Check your overenskomst — none of this is guaranteed by the Holiday Act alone.