Retirement age: Disability lowers it

Created: 07/31/2022, 09:00

By: Laura Knops

People with a severe disability can retire earlier.

Which requirements you have to meet for this.

While the retirement age has risen in recent years, there are opportunities for some people to retire earlier – and without deductions.

Anyone who is no longer able to work for health reasons or suffers from a severe disability can draw their pension earlier without any deductions.

You can find out here when you can apply for your pension, what requirements you have to meet and whether early retirement has any financial implications.

Retirement age: Disability lowers it

Retirees must complete the 35-year qualifying period on the day they retire (symbol image).

© photothek / Imago

From July 1, 2022, pension payments are to increase by more than five percent.

This is good news, especially for people who are looking forward to retirement.

Pensioners who receive a disability pension should also benefit from the subsidy.

Anyone suffering from a disability also has the opportunity to enjoy retirement before the general standard retirement age.

The severely disabled status makes it possible to retire before the 63rd birthday.

For example, people with a severe disability can draw their salaries two years earlier than is usually the case.

Anyone who accepts a deduction of up to 10.8 percent can even start their pension up to five years earlier, depending on the year of birth.

However, this is not an option for everyone, since no more contributions are paid when the pension begins.

The result: the pension entitlement no longer increases and the pension is significantly lower.

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Retirement age: You must meet these requirements

In order to be able to draw their pension early without deductions, insured persons must meet two important requirements.

First of all, the severely disabled status must be confirmed before the start of the pension.

This means that a disability level of at least 50 must be met.

The degree of disability (GdB) indicates how strong a disability affects both physically and mentally in everyday life.

In addition, retirees must complete the 35-year qualifying period on the day they retire.

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It is worth taking a closer look, especially when it comes to waiting times.

Because if the waiting period is less than 35 years, there is no entitlement to an early pension due to severe disability.

It therefore makes sense to uncover and clarify possible gaps at an early stage.

Retirement age: When does a severe disability exist?

According to the German pension insurance, a person with a degree of disability of 50 or more is considered to be severely disabled.

In order to receive a severely disabled person's pass, however, those affected must first fill out an application at the responsible office, the pension office of the responsible federal state.

There it is then checked which disabilities are present.

If there are also several illnesses, these are considered in an overall value - the degree of disability.

As already described above, the early old-age pension for people with severe disabilities only comes into effect if the affected insured person has at least 35 years of insurance.

The minimum insurance period includes not only periods of employment subject to social security contributions, but also phases such as child-rearing periods or receipt of sick pay.

This article only contains general information on the respective health topic and is therefore not intended for self-diagnosis, treatment or medication.

In no way does it replace a visit to the doctor.

Unfortunately, our editors are not allowed to answer individual questions about clinical pictures.