Invalidity pension in Luxembourg: conditions, calculation and application

Invalidity, incapacity, redeployment: three different situations

Incapacity for work (sick leave) is temporary: you receive sickness benefits while you get treatment. Everything that happens during this period is explained in our guide on incapacity for work.

Professional redeployment concerns employees who can no longer hold their last job for health reasons, but who are not recognised as invalid by the Contrôle médical de la sécurité sociale (CMSS). It is decided by the Commission mixte:

• internal: you stay with your employer, in another job or with other adapted working hours (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet));
• external: if internal redeployment wasn't possible, a special status helps you find a job elsewhere (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

Cross-border workers are treated like residents for redeployment.

Invalidity goes further: you can no longer do your last job or any other work that matches your abilities and skills (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)). The CNAP then pays a pension, on the opinion of the CMSS (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

The conditions for receiving the invalidity pension

Four conditions (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)):

1. Be invalid within the meaning of the law: a prolonged illness, an infirmity or wear and tear prevents you from doing your last job or another occupation suited to your abilities.
2. Give up any activity that earns on average more than one third of the minimum social wage.
3. Be under 65.
4. Have paid contributions for at least 12 months (compulsory, continued or voluntary insurance) during the 3 years before the date the invalidity was established or the end of your sickness benefits.

Important exception: the 12-month condition doesn't apply if your invalidity results from an accident of any kind, or from a recognised occupational disease, occurring while you were insured. And the 3-year period is extended accordingly if it contains supplementary periods (such as studies) or periods of guaranteed minimum income.

These conditions apply to anyone, resident or not, who is or has been affiliated with the Luxembourg general scheme (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

How it is calculated

The invalidity pension follows the logic of the old-age pension: one part linked to your insurance period and one part linked to your salaries on which contributions were paid (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)). But invalidity cuts your career short. To compensate, the CNAP adds two elements:

• notional years up to age 65, counted in the same proportion as your actual career since age 25: if you were insured 80% of the time since 25, these years count at 80%, without exceeding 40 years in total;
• notional salaries, if you are under 55 when the pension starts: the CNAP takes your average annual income since age 25 and counts it for each missing year up to age 55.

The minimum pension also applies: with at least 20 years of insurance, supplementary periods included, your pension doesn't fall below a floor that rises with your years (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)). The current amounts and the 40-year rule are on our minimum pension page.

The exact amount depends on your career: only the CNAP can calculate it. One thing is certain: the statutory pension replaces your income, it doesn't reproduce it. If you have loans, children, rent, that's where protection cover on the side makes sense. An adviser can review with you what you would be missing.

When it starts, when it stops

The start (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)):

• temporary invalidity: the pension starts when your entitlement to sickness benefits ends, or, without that entitlement, after 6 months of uninterrupted invalidity;
• permanent invalidity: it starts on the first day of the established invalidity, but at the earliest when the 12-month condition is met;
• if your employer keeps paying your salary, it only starts when that salary ends;
• after an accident at work or an occupational disease, it starts on the date of consolidation, when the injury has become permanent.

You don't receive the invalidity pension and sickness benefits at the same time. And above all: the pension is never paid for more than one year before your application. Waiting makes you lose money.

Working on the side. You can carry out an activity, as an employee or self-employed, if the income, spread over the year, doesn't exceed one third of the minimum social wage per month (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)). Above that, the pension is withdrawn, and any amounts overpaid must be refunded (CNAP, FAQ (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)). This threshold follows the index.

The end. The pension is withdrawn if the medical conditions are no longer met. In that case, if you still can't go back to your last job, you can apply for external redeployment (Guichet.lu (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).

At 65, your invalidity pension automatically becomes an old-age pension. The amount isn't recalculated, unless you paid contributions while receiving your pension (a small activity, for example): it can then go up, never down (CNAP (ouvre dans un nouvel onglet)).