Your work in another European Union (EU) Member State, a member country of the European Economic Area (EEA) or a social security agreement country may affect the calculation and amount of your Finnish pension. Depending on your work abroad, an accelerated accrual supplement may be added to your pension, your pension for projected pensionable service may be partitioned or the earnings on which your pension for projected pensionable service is based may be calculated taking your work abroad into consideration.

Who falls within the sphere of the Seafarer’s Pensions Act (MEL)

Accelerated accrual supplement

You may be entitled to an accelerated accrual supplement if you have worked as an employee or an entrepreneur in another EU/EEA State after 1 January 1994.

From 1 January 1994 until 31 December 2004, work in another EU/EEA State accrued an accelerated accrual supplement at an annual rate of 1% from the start of the year when the pension applicant reached the age of 60.

Since 1 January 2005, work in another EU/EEA State between the ages of 53 and 62 accrues an accelerated accrual supplement at an annual rate of 0.4% and work between the ages of 63-68 accrues at an annual rate of 3%.

The accelerated accrual supplement is included in the pension as a separate supplement in ratio to your periods of employment in EU/EEA States.

You are not entitled to an accelerated accrual supplement if you work in another EU/EEA State when you are already retired.

Partition of projected pensionable service

Pension for projected pensionable service and earned pension are usually added to a disability pension. Projected pensionable service refers to the period from the start of the year of the onset of disability until retirement age for the old-age pension.
If you are awarded a pension that includes pension for projected pensionable service from another EU/EEA State as well as from Finland, projected pensionable service is partitioned among these countries in ratio to the insurance periods. Thus, each country awards projected pensionable service to your pension in the ratio to the period you worked in the country concerned.

Earnings for projected pensionable service in the EU

As a general rule, pension for projected pensionable service is calculated based on your earnings for the five calendar years preceding the starting year of disability (control period). If during the control period you have also accumulated insurance time that accrues pension in another EU/EEA State, the insurance periods for the other country are taken into consideration when calculating earnings for projected pensionable service. In order to calculate pension for projected pensionable service in Finland, you must have earnings in Finland during the five-year control period. If you only have earnings from another EU/EEA State, it is not possible to calculate pension for projected pensionable service in Finland.

Read more about working abroad and pension on the website of the Finnish Centre for Pensions