Disability Pensions

Conditions of entitlement to the disability pension (Section (§) 38 of the Act on pension insurance)

The insured person shall be entitled to the disability pension, provided he/she has not reached 65 years of age and became

disabled and has reached the sufficient insurance time, as long he/she does not meet the conditions for the entitlement to the regular old-age pension as at the day on which his/her disability arises, or if he/she was granted the early permanently reduced old-age pension before reaching the retirement age, or
disabled as a result of an occupational injury.

Disability (Section (§) 39 of the Act on pension insurance)

The insured person shall be considered disabled if, due to his/her long-term impaired health condition his/her ability to work has been reduced by at least 35 %.

Provided the ability of an insured person to work has been reduced

at least by 35 %, however by 49 % at most, he/she shall be considered disabled in the first degree,
at least by 50 %, however by 69 % at most, he/she shall be considered disabled in the second degree,
at least by 70 %, he/she shall be considered disabled in the third degree.

The insurance time required for the entitlement to the disability pension (Section (§) 40 of the Act on pension insurance)

The required insurance period of the insured person is at the age:

less than 20 less than one year
between 20 and 22 one year
between 22 and 24 two years
between 24 and 26 three years
between 26 and 28 four years
over 28 five years

The required insurance period is being assessed before the occurence of invalidity, and in cases of insured of over 28 years of age in the last 10 years before the occurence of invalidity. For an insured over 38 years of age the condition is deemed fulfilled also in cases when the insurance period was acquired in the last 20 years before the occurence of invalidity and the required minimum is 10 years. The condition of required minimum period is fulfilled if the insurance period was acquired in the 10 years following the occurence of invalidity. The insured period condition is deemed fulfilled if the invalidity arose as a consequence of a work injury or occupational disease.

The amount of the disability pension (Section (§) 41 of the Act on pension insurance)

The amount of the pension consists of two components, specifically a basic assessment and a percentage assessment.

The amount of the basic assessment of the pensions has been is set as a percentage of the average wage – 9 % of average wage (and rounded appropriately).

The percentage assessment shall for each whole year of the insurance time:

0.5 % of the calculation base per month, in case of a disability pension granted for disability of the first degree,
0.75 % of the calculation base per month, in case of a disability pension granted for disability of the second degree,
1.5 % of the calculation base per month, in case of a disability pension granted for disability of the third degree.

In case of a change in the disability degree the amount of the pension will be reassessed, starting from the date on which the disability degree changes.

The only change is in the percentage assessment of the disability pension, specifically, the percentage assessment granted before the date, on which the disability degree changed, shall be multiplied by the respective coefficient. The coefficients for the individual changes shall be as follows:

from the first to the second degree: 1.5
from the first to the third degree: 3
from the second to the third degree: 2
from the third to the second degree: 0.5
from the third to the first degree: 0.3333
from the second to the first degree: 0.6666

The insurance time shall include also the so-called remaining time, which means a period of time from the date on which the entitlement to the disability pension arises to the retirement age established for childless women – the same shall apply for men.

The insurance time shall include also the so-called non-contributory insurance time (equally as in the case of the old-age pension).

The disability pension and its amount in exceptional cases (Section (§) 42 of the Act on pension insurance)

On the day of the 18th birthday the entitlement to the third-degree disability pension shall also arise for persons with permanent residency on the territory of the Czech Republic and with disability of the third degree, who did not participate in the insurance scheme for the necessary period of time and whose disability arose before reaching 18 years of age.

The percentage assessment of the third-degree disability pension in such cases shall be 45 % of the calculation base. For the purposes of determination of the calculation base the personal assessment base shall be defined as the general assessment base for the year, which by two years precedes the year in which the disability pension was granted, multiplied by the applicable coefficient.

The amount of the percentage assessment determined in this manner also represents the minimum amount of the assessment for the third-degree disability pension for persons, who became afflicted with the third-degree disability before reaching 28 years of age, for persons who are granted the pension before reaching 18 years of age or for persons whose period from 18 years of age until the entitlement to the disability pension is covered with the insurance time or if the time which is not covered by the insurance is shorter than one year and for insured persons, who, by the date on which the entitlement to the pension arises, had had at least 15 years of insurance, excluding the non-contributory insurance times; in case of the disability pension for the second degree disability the minimum amount of the percentage assessment shall be one half of the amount determined in this manner and in case of the disability pension for the first degree disability it shall be one third of the amount determined in this manner.

Transformation of the disability pension into the old-age pension

The entitlement to the payment of a disability pension shall expire on the day on which the beneficiary has reached 65 years of age and on this date also arises his/her entitlement to an old-age pension in the same amount as the previous disability pension, i.e. no calculation of the old-age pension is performed. However, the beneficiary of the old-age pension is entitled to request a calculation of his/her old-age pension in agreement with the standard rules and in that case he/she shall be granted the higher amount of the two.

Filing an application for the pension (Section (§) 82 of the Act No. 582/1991 Coll., on organization and implementation of social security)

The same procedure shall apply as provided in the section “Old-age pensions“.