Pension

Plan your retirement well in advance. Check your pension forecast on minpension.se and think about how you intend to withdraw it. Remember to notify your manager well in advance that you are planning to retire. To ensure that you receive your pension in time, you must apply to SPV and the Pensions Agency three months before you wish to receive your first payment.

• SPV will contact you in good time before the retirement and send you the documentation needed to apply. You can find the information needed at SPV Time to retire.
• If you want to retire at a different time, e.g. early retirement or deferred retirement, you must contact SPV, which will send you your pension documents.
• You need to check your service register and contact SPV if the information there is incorrect. SPV will then investigate and amend the register if necessary.

Forms that need signing from your manager before retirement

• Your service register
• Application for defined-benefit retirement pension
• The SLU employee resignation form

The resignation form needs to be sent to the Payroll unit. Pension application and service register are sent to SPV directly by the employee alternatively by the manager. 

Parts of your pension that you apply for yourself:

• National public pension
• The selectable part
• Kåpan tjänste
• Kåpan flex
• Pension from other emplyments

Read more on SPV’s ‘plan to retire’ pages

And the Pensions Agency’s website about applying for your pension.

Starting 1 January 2024, only those born before 1966 will be able to withdraw a partial pension. SPV has made changes to the agreement meaning that those born in 1966 or later are not entitled to a partial pension.

The needs of the organisation, financial scope and the employee’s personal situation will be taken into account when assessing applications for partial pensions. With the support of this agreement, employers can increase the opportunity for older employees to remain in work until they reach the standard retirement age. 

The agreement allows for partial pensions at the age of 61 for staff who have been employed in the public sector for a minimum of 10 years (120 months) and who are not receiving 50% or more in sickness compensation. The partial pension can be granted for up to 50% of full-time work, and SPV will compensate for the loss of income with 60%.  

Each application for partial pension will be assessed individually. As a rule, SLU generally allows for partial pensions of up to 20% when the employee turns 63, provided the work situation allows and that the organisation is not negatively affected. 

Granting partial pensions to those under 63 is done restrictively and there must be special reason. Such reasons may include redundancies or if the employee is physically unable to perform certain tasks.

The manager will determine how the work hours are allocated with consideration to the needs of the organisation. The partial pension is to free up time for the employee. Therefore, employees are not allowed to work while they are withdrawing their partial pension. Staff who are granted a partial pension are, as in any other case, obliged to notify SLU of any secondary employment.

The Employment Protection Act entitles an employee to remain in their position until the month they turn 69. The main purpose of the partial pension agreement is to enable the employee to fully retire at 65, hence the agreement does not apply after the age of 65. A person who has been granted a partial pension is expected to fully retire once they turn 65.

Partial pension applications are submitted to the head of department or equivalent who will then contact an HR specialists. Apply using the partial pension application form and include a written statement of your reasons why you are applying. The HR director will either approve or reject the partial pension application. The application should be submitted six months before the preferred partial pension start date.

A person who has been awarded a partial pension cannot change their minds and return to full-time work.

Partial pensions for people aged between 61 and 63 are funded by the employer (75%) and the adjustment fund (25%). For those aged 63 and above, 25% is funded by the employer and 75% from the adjustment fund.

Visit SPV.se for more information.

Forms

Partial pension application                           

If you are approaching retirement age but would like to continue working reduced hours and withdrawing only part of your pension, you will need to discuss this with your manager first. Working reduced hours is not a right, but your manager may agree to it if it does not adversely affect operations. You will need to submit a written justification before meeting with your manager.

How you apply for reduced hours depends on your age and whether you will be withdrawing your occupational pension or not. It is important to make a decision on occupational pension beforehand and to inform your manager.

Under 65

If you are under 65 years of age and wish to withdraw your occupational pension, you first need to resign from your current post. Use the form “Employee resignation” to do this. Your post is advertised with reduced hours. You apply in Reachmee and will then be reemployed but on reduced hours. 

If you are under 65 years of age and not planning to withdraw your occupational pension, you must instead apply for part-time leave of absence. You do this in Primula; select the option “Leave without pay”.

If you are over 65 years of age

If you are over 65 years of age and wish to withdraw your occupational pension, you first need to resign from your current post. Use the form “Employee resignation” to do this. Your post is advertised with reduced hours. You apply in Reachmee and will then be reemployed but on reduced hours.

If you are under 65 years of age and you are not planning to withdraw your occupational pension, you must instead apply for reduced hours using the form “Ansökan om lägre sysselsättningsgrad tillsvidare”.  Fill in the form and give it to your manager. They will sign the form and forward it to the HR-specialist.

See image - Working reduced hours

Forms

Employee resignation
Ansökan om lägre sysselsättningsgrad tillsvidare (only in Swedish)

As an SLU employee, you are able to use a portion of your salary to make voluntary pension payments.

You choose the amount to be deducted from your gross salary. The benefit is available for SLU staff aged 23 and above who are employed for more than 20% of full-time. Please note that by making voluntary salary payments, your national retirement pension may be lower. More information is available from the Swedish Pensions Agency.

Use the Agreement – Salary exchange to set aside pension payments form.

Agreement to terminate or pause your salary exchange

Rules for salary exchanges at SLU 

1. What is a salary exchange?

A salary exchange is a simple, individual and advantageous way of making voluntary payments to your pension. You choose the size of these payments and they are deducted from your gross salary. There are upper and lower limits for the size of the payment amount. The money is placed in the optional component as per the PA16 occupational pension agreement. You can place the payments in your choice of pension fund.

If you do not choose anything, the money will be automatically placed in a traditional fund held with Kåpan Government Employees Pension Fund (Kåpan Valbar) without repayment cover. Read more about salary exchanges on the SPV website www.spv.se.

Salary exchanges are advantageous as they reduce your gross salary, which in turn reduces the levels of payroll and income tax to be paid. By making voluntary pension payments, your income tax is reduced and you receive a supplement of four per cent of the amount being exchanged, as SLU’s expenses are also reduced, benefitting the employee.

2. Who can exchange their salary?

The offer is available to all permanent staff working 20 per cent of full-time or more and receiving salary from SLU.

Staff born in 1988 or later are able to exchange their salary from their first day of employment until the end of the month they turn 69. Those born in 1987 or earlier can exchange their salary until the calendar month preceding the month in which the employee turns 67 – the retirement age.

3. Benefits that may be affected

Salary exchange may result in a reduction to other benefits, such as those paid in the event of sickness as voluntary pension payments may result in your basic salary falling below the minimum threshold. Therefore, we recommend that you find out how your basic salary following the exchange will affect your benefits.

National retirement pension

Parental benefit

Sickness benefit and sickness compensation

Unemployment insurance

4. How the salary exchange works

Once you have decided to exchange your salary, you will sign an agreement with SLU. This agreement runs until further notice and the salary exchange begins in the month after the agreement is signed.

SLU will then deduct the agreed amount from your monthly salary plus a supplement of four per cent, and pay it into the pension fund of your choice. The minimum monthly salary exchange amount is SEK 500. SLU has approved a maximum of 25 per cent of a person’s gross salary to be used for salary exchange.

If your position at SLU changes, your salary exchange agreement will remain in force unless otherwise agreed.

5. Terminate a salary exchange

Salary exchanges can only be made if it is possible to deduct the chosen amount from your salary. Reduced salary following parental leave, a leave of absence or sick leave may prevent a deduction from being made.

6. Agreement termination of salary exchanges

Salary exchanges may be terminated:

• upon the request of the employee;
• if the employment at SLU is terminated;
• upon the request of the employer if tax rules, other legislation or circumstances change.

7. Changing the size of the voluntary payment

If you would like to change the size of the salary payment, you will need to complete a new application and sign it together with your manager. Submit the application to the Payroll Unit. If a new application for a different amount is submitted, this will automatically cancel the previous decision. 

8. Example

An employee earns SEK 49 000 per month. In August, they decide to exchange SEK 2 000 of their salary starting on 1 October. The first salary deduction will be taken from October’s salary. In November, SLU will pay the SEK 2 000 plus the 4 per cent supplement to the pension fund the employee has chosen, making a pension contribution of SEK 2 080.

The employee is then taxed on a salary of SEK 47 000 (SEK 49 000 minus SEK 2 000), meaning their income tax is lower. 

If you become long-term sick

When you are employed by the state and receive sjukersättning or aktivitetsersättning from Försäkringskassan you may have the right to additional benefits from SPV. This benefit is called sick pension.

Read more at SPV.se about information what happens if you become sick

If you should pass away

When you are employed by the state you have benefits for your family if you should pass away, this would be survivors pension and group life insurance. You could also have repayment cover for parts of your occupational pension, which means that your family will receive your pension if you pass away.

Read more about what your family could receive if you pass away at SPV.se

If you have any questions about your occupational pension please contact SPV. At contact SPV you can send them an email, find answers to commonly asked questions and login to chat. You can also call their customer service at: 020 – 51 50 40. If you call from abroad please call: +46 60 18 74 00.

If you have questions regarding your national public pension please contact the Swedish Pension Agency at: 0771-776 776 or read more at pensionsmyndigheten.se. If you call from abroad please call: +46 498 200 700.