The president of the Danish Trade Union Federation (FH) has criticised the decision to award pension provider, ATP, the job of administering the country’s new senior pension.

In a statement, Lizette Risgaard said that it was a “bad idea” to give the job of managing the senior pension scheme to ATP and added that ATP itself does not want the job. Instead, she said that people in need of a senior pension should be assessed by professionals at the country's social medicine clinics.

The country’s Ministry of Employment announced yesterday, 16 December, that ATP had been awarded the contract starting from 1 January 2021. In the intervening period, the municipalities will administer the scheme.

The government believes that giving ATP the contract will ensure a uniform allocation of the senior pension across the country. ATP will set up a new self-governing institution with an independent board.

The government said that if a citizen is denied a senior pension while the rules are administered by the municipalities, then their case can be resumed when the new authority takes over 1 January 2021. This is stated in the bill on the introduction of the senior pension, which parliament is finalising this week and will come into force on 1 January 2020.

Minister of Employment, Peter Hummelgaard, said: “I am pleased that we have now found a permanent solution for the administration of the senior pension, giving ATP a year to establish the new authority. It must pave the way for citizens to be treated equally wherever they live.

“Until that authority is in place, I have full confidence that the municipalities will ensure that citizens with significantly reduced working capacity and who meet the requirements are awarded the senior pension.”

Under the new rules of the senior pension, citizens will have to apply to receive the pension, and, in order to qualify they will need to be within six years of pension age, have worked for 20-25 years and be judged to be unable to work for more than 15 hours a week.

Risgaard said that she is sceptical on how one central authority, ATP, can decide on citizens’ applications for senior pensions.

“FH believes that applicants for senior pensions are entitled to fair and serious treatment. This means that work ability assessments and health assessments should be moved to the social medicine centres of the regions that have the interdisciplinary expertise,” Lizette Risgaard said.

FH is proposing that the new self-governing institution should initiate cooperation with the social medicine centres in the five regions, so that the authority can obtain qualified recommendations for the applications for senior pensions.

"I am sorry that the conciliation parties have chosen a more expensive and inferior solution instead of a cheaper, better and more citizen-friendly,” Risgaard added.

ATP has been contacted for comment by European Pensions but it is yet to respond.

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