Recieve your retirement benefits
Retirement pension for public sector employees
A retirement pension is meant to support you when you stop working. In Norway, a typical retirement pension for a public sector employee consists of the occupational pension from the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK) and a public retirement pension from the National Insurance Scheme (NAV).
A pension consists of many parts. The occupational pension comes from us.
The National Insurance Scheme
In order to be entitled to receive a retirement pension from the National Insurance Scheme (Folketrygden) you must have been a member for a minimum of one year. For most Norwegians this pension is the largest part of their total retirement benefits.
Occupational pension from SPK
As a member of the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (SPK) you have a solid occupational pension. Your employer contributes funds based on your salary for every month you work, which form the basis of the pension accruals.
Own savings
Most people will see a reduction in income when they retire. Therefore, you may want to save in order to have additional funds. You can do this by repaying debt and saving in funds, stocks or banks.
Retirement pension rules are different for different age groups
The biggest difference in the rules is between those born in 1962 or earlier and those born in 1963 or later. Another distinction is between the way pension accruals are calculated before and after 2020.
It is important that you familiarize yourself with the opportunities and choices you have so that you can make good choices for when you become a pensioner. If you need an intro to how pensions work in Norway, take a look at this page.
How to apply for retirement pension
It is up to you when you want to retire, but this has to be seen in relation to the age limit of your position and finanical size of your pension accruals.
This is the process
- Find out together with your employer when you would like and have the opportunity to retire.
- At least two months before you retire your employer must send us a notice of retirement. Pension notifications may be sent earlier, but will not be acted upon before it's time. You do not need to send us a separate application in addition to the pension notification.
- No matter how early your employer submits a pension notification, we will approve the pension case at the earliest six weeks before the retirement date.
- Your employer will receive a receipt via Altinn. You will not receive a confirmation from us, but you can check if we have created a case regarding your retirement notice by logging in to "My page" on spk.no (only available in Norwegian)
- Once the pension has been approved, your old-age pension will be paid from the first month after the retirement date.