🧭 Reduced earning capacity pension and private occupational disability insurance compared
In brief
If you can no longer work, or can only work to a limited extent, because of illness or disability, you have to deal with two completely different systems in Germany: the statutory reduced earning capacity pension (Erwerbsminderungsrente) from the pension insurance (SGB VI) and private occupational disability insurance (BU insurance, Berufsunfähigkeitsversicherung), a contract taken out voluntarily. In everyday speech both are often called "BU", but they mean different things and are assessed by different standards.
The statutory reduced earning capacity pension asks whether you can still do any work at all on the general labour market for at least six hours a day – regardless of the occupation you trained for. Private occupational disability insurance, by contrast, asks whether you can still do the job you last worked in. In practice this often means that someone is occupationally disabled by the standards of the private insurance but does not get a reduced earning capacity pension, because formally they could still do some other work.
Step by step
- Keep the two terms apart"Occupational disability" (Berufsunfähigkeit) is the standard of private insurance, "reduced earning capacity" (Erwerbsminderung) the standard of the statutory pension – having been assessed for one does not automatically tell you whether you are entitled to the other.
- Check your existing coverFind out whether you are a compulsory member of the statutory pension insurance and whether a private BU contract exists.
- Keep the qualifying period in mindFor the statutory reduced earning capacity pension a five-year qualifying period is usually required – see the in-depth topic page on requirements and application.
- Close the cover gap with additional insuranceIf you have only weak statutory cover or none at all, you should consider private occupational disability insurance – ideally while you do not yet have any illness.
Deadlines
- Private BU insurance generally has to be taken out before the illness begins: the health assessment when the contract is concluded (pre-contractual duty of disclosure, § 19 VVG) usually leads to exclusions of benefits or to rejection of the application if you already have symptoms.
- In practice the statutory reduced earning capacity pension often replaces only a fraction of your last net income – as the sole protection it is often not enough.
- If you are not subject to compulsory statutory pension insurance (for example many self-employed people, see separate topic page), you often have no access at all to the statutory reduced earning capacity pension when it matters.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Two systems, two standards
The statutory reduced earning capacity pension under § 43 SGB VI is based on the residual capacity to work on the general labour market: anyone who could still do any work for at least six hours a day for which they are eligible given their training and experience does not receive a full reduced earning capacity pension – regardless of whether that work matches their previous occupation, qualification or previous income. Private occupational disability insurance under § 172 VVG, by contrast, is based on the occupation last practised, in its concrete form.
Why both should be considered together
Because the standards are independent of each other, a person can be occupationally disabled within the meaning of the insurance contract and at the same time not have reduced earning capacity within the meaning of SGB VI – and vice versa. Full protection therefore takes both systems into account, not just one.
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