Employees without membership in the National Insurance Scheme

For employees who are not members of the National Insurance Scheme (folketrygden), membership of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK) is voluntary.

Condition for membership

To become a member of SPK, employees must also be members of the National Insurance Scheme.

However, exceptions can be made. In such cases, employees may pay an additional pension contribution either to the National Insurance Scheme or directly to the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK).

Increased pension rights

Membership of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK) provides pension rights in addition to those offered by the National Insurance Scheme. As a result, our members receive a higher total pension. It is important to note that the National Insurance Scheme and the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund apply different sets of rules when calculating pension entitlements.

Foreign employees and Norwegian employees abroad

Foreign employees working in Norway for a short period are normally not members of the National Insurance Scheme.

Norwegian employees working for Norwegian employers abroad often lose their membership of the National Insurance Scheme, but they may apply to retain it.

Learn more about the conditions for membership of the National Insurance Scheme (nav.no/english)

Advantages of membership

Membership of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund gives employees entitlement to retirement pension and contractual pension (AFP). In the event of long-term illness, you may receive a disability pension after your entitlement to sickness benefit ends. In the event of death, surviving dependants (spouse and/or children) may receive a dependant’s pension.

The consequences of withdrawing from membership

If an employee chooses not to be a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK), any pension rights earned up to that point become deferred. As a result, 40 years of contribution time are required to qualify for a full pension. Active members, by contrast, only need 30 years of contribution time to qualify for the same pension level. Without membership, the employee also loses the right to contractual pension (AFP).

In the event of long-term illness, employees without SPK membership must be granted at least 50 per cent permanent disability pension from the National Insurance Scheme in order to be eligible for a deferred disability pension from SPK.

Employers must inform their employees of the consequences of withdrawing from membership. Each employee must complete a declaration form to terminate their membership. Please contact us if you need this form.

Extra pension contribution

If employees withdraw from the National Insurance Scheme but wish to retain their membership of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK), they must pay an extra pension contribution of 7.5 per cent of their pensionable income. This amount is in addition to the ordinary pension contributions paid by both employer and employee.

This contribution rate was changed as of 1 January 2011. Until then, the rate depended on the employee’s age: employees under 40 paid 5 per cent, while those over 40 paid 9 per cent.

The additional pension contribution is paid by the employer on behalf of the employee. Whether this amount is recovered from the employee or included as part of the wage agreement is a matter between the employer and the employee.

If the employee wishes to withdraw from the National Insurance Scheme but retain membership of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK), the employer must contact SPK before the withdrawal takes effect.

Joining and leaving the scheme

If the employee chooses not to pay the extra pension contribution, their membership will end from the following month.

It is not possible to withdraw from membership retroactively, as the employee has been insured during the period of membership.

An employee may re-join the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK) after a period without membership. However, previous periods without membership cannot be covered through additional pension contributions.