Daily allowance, maternity and sickness
Visual artists act on the labor market as both self-employed, employees in employment relationships and fee recipients. Your status is important partly in relation to A-kasse and partly in relation to maternity leave. You can read more about this below.
Unemployment benefit (A-kasse)
Dagpenge is a transfer income that ensures you an income in the event of unemployment.
You must be a member of an A-kasse (at least one year) and registered as a job seeker in your local job center to receive unemployment benefit. You are entitled to unemployment benefit for two years within three years. Once you have become unemployed, it is not possible to be enrolled in an A-kasse.
General information about unemployment benefits, sickness and maternity benefits, current unemployment benefit rates, etc. can be found at www.borger.dk.
You should be aware that your tax situation may be related to your status in a possible A-kasse. You can find guidance on this at www.skat.dk.
Your A-kasse can tell you more about the conditions for the right to unemployment benefit, as well as the calculation of your unemployment benefit rate. If you need a 'second opinion' or have questions about A-kasse's guidance, decision or the like, you can contact us.
Which A box should I choose?
The Association of Visual Artists has no A-kasse associated with it, but we generally recommend the following A-kasse:
- The unemployment fund for Journalism, Communication and Language
- FTFa
- The Master's A-kasse
- Teknisk Landsforbund A-kasse
Most A-funds admit all categories of members, but some A-funds only admit employees or self-employed people.
If you are a member of an A-kasse, you must be aware that you are continuously registered in the correct category – i.e. whether your work as an artist, e.g. takes place in a permanent employment relationship with supplementary artistic activity. In this situation, you must be registered as an employee with part-time employment.
Registration in A-kasse
Are you newly graduated or in one permanent employment/salaried employee (with or without a side job), there is usually good reason to become a member of an A-kasse to insure yourself financially.
The independent traders, on the other hand, the matter is more doubtful. Many A-funds require that you completely shut down your artistic business.
The difference is that it is easy to determine whether an employee is entitled to unemployment benefits, while the situation is different for the self-employed. The self-employed have fluctuating income and perhaps an unstable income. In some months you may have a large income, while in other months you do not pay yourself a salary at all. Even if you do not receive a salary, this does not necessarily mean that you are unemployed. In order to avoid fraud, it is therefore the A-kasse's practice that you are not entitled to unemployment benefit as long as the company exists.
If you are an employee
Admission to A-kasse as an employee can be done for just one working hour, but at the earliest from the date the work is carried out and no later than 2 weeks after the work has been carried out. However, you are only entitled to unemployment benefits after you have met the employment requirement, which in total corresponds to full-time work for at least 52 weeks (for full-time insured persons) or 34 weeks (for part-time insured persons) within the last 3 years (earnings period).
If you are a recent graduate
Admission to A-kasse as a new graduate can take place after you have completed a vocational education of at least 18 months' duration. Your application for admission must be submitted to the A-kassen within two weeks after you have completed the programme.
If you are self-employed
Admission to A-kasse as a self-employed person can take place if you can document that you run a self-employed business as your main occupation.
See possibly more in the pamphlet; 'About being admitted or re-admitted to an unemployment fund' of www.adir.dk
maternity
The new maternity rules apply if the child is born or received (by adoption) on or after 2 August 2022.
The maternity rules are about the right to absence during maternity and the right to pay during maternity leave (maternity allowance).
If you are an employee
As an employee, you are basically entitled to maternity pay if you meet these three conditions at the start of the individual period of absence:
- You must be employed on the first day of your leave or the day before.
- You must have at least 160 hours in the last four full months before the leave.
- You must have worked at least 40 hours per month for at least three of the four months.
You can find out more here: https://www.borger.dk/familie-og-boern/barsel-oversigt/barsel-loenmodtagere/barsel-loenmodtagere-ny-orlovsmodel
If you are self-employed
As a self-employed person, you are basically entitled to maternity pay if you meet the following conditions at the start of the individual period of absence:
- You have worked at least 18,5 hours per week for at least 6 months within the last 12 months.
- You have worked in the last month before going on leave.
- There is a profit in your business.
You can find out more here: https://www.borger.dk/familie-og-boern/barsel-oversigt/barsel-selvstaendige/barsel-selvstaendige-ny-orlovsmodel
The Association of Visual Artists does not provide further advice on maternity. Questions about this should instead be directed to www.borger.dk
Maternity employment
The maternity fund www.barsel.dk makes it possible for employees and freelancers (including artists) to be paid during maternity leave via a so-called maternity employment. Through this scheme, an employer can have the salary during the maternity period reimbursed by the maternity fund and the employer therefore has virtually no extra expenses by employing an artist during maternity leave.
Several members of BKF have been on the scheme in recent years.
Disease
As a self-employed person, you can sign up for sickness benefit insurance, which gives you sickness benefit from the 1st or 3rd day of absence. The prices depend on the coverage you want. You can read more here: https://virk.dk/vejledning/sygedagpengeforsikring/.
The system is administered by Udbetaling Danmark.
Artikler's report
- News, Misc
Member has been required to pay full tax on a production grant from the Statens Kunstfond.
- News, Misc
