New Three-Year Collective Agreement for State Employees in Place

On Wednesday morning, Finance Minister Nicolai Wammen (Social Democrats), together with the chief negotiators for public state employees, presented a new collective agreement for the 200,000 employees in the public state sector, including employees at the country's universities. 

The agreement has a financial framework of 8.7 percent and comes with a pay rise of at least 6.37 percent for all state employees. 

In addition to securing higher wages for employees, the parties to the agreement have focused on creating more flexible terms and conditions for state employees. As a new feature, a so-called Free Choice Payroll Account will be set up from 1 January 2028, which will give employees greater freedom of choice between receiving a higher salary, higher pension contributions or more freedom. 

The parties also agree to ease the pressure on families with children by allowing a third sick day for children. If, as a parent, you receive a call from your child's daycare centre asking you to pick up your sick child, this day will not count as the child's first sick day, as is currently the case. However, this remains an option and not a right, which was otherwise being demanded by employee representatives. In addition, the agreement also includes improved pay rights regarding parental leave. 

Even employees who don’t have small children can look forward to increased flexibility under the new collective agreement. Employees over the age of 41 are given a so-called ‘free choice day’, while seniors are entitled to two additional senior days. The days are unpaid, but with the option of payment from the Free Choice Payroll Account. 

Chair of the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations: “A Landmark Agreement”

The chair of the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations, Tomas Kepler, calls it a landmark agreement and emphasises that it introduces new measures in relation to the psychological work environment and sets out a significant new direction in the fight against stress:

"We urgently need to tackle the stress epidemic. With this agreement, state employers are assuming part of the responsibility, which I think is both necessary and visionary. This, the Minister of Finance deserves praise for. The Free Choice Payroll Account is a real breakthrough that gives employees more influence over their working lives," says Tomas Kepler in a press release. 

Gordon Ørskov Madsen, chair of the Danish Central Federation of State Employees’ Organisations, also highlights the agreement's focus on the work environment.

"I’m very pleased that, for the first time in many years, we have succeeded in creating a significantly improved framework for our employees' working lives. We have agreed on a settlement that focuses on all employees – families with children, the middle group and seniors. With this agreement, we have embarked on an innovation, namely, a special state-funded free choice scheme. The scheme gives individual employees greater opportunity to choose solutions that suit their working lives. I hope we can expand on this in the future," says the Chair Gordon Ørskov Madsen in a press release.

Pay Rise for Soldiers Comes from Joint Pool

The agreement includes a separate fund of DKK 275 million for an additional pay rise for military personnel within the Danish Armed Forces. This pay rise, which comes on top of the general pay rise, is financed by the community in the sense that the employee representatives have accepted that the DKK 275 million will come from the joint pool. According to the agreement, the purpose of the special pay rise for soldiers is to support the Danish Armed Forces' fighting power through recruitment and retention. 

Pending approval

Further negotiations will now follow for the various professional groups within the state sector, after which the professional organisations will submit the results of the negotiations to a vote among their respective members. If approved, the agreements will become effective on 1 April 2026 and will be in force for three years. 

The public sector agreement at the state level is the first of the public sector agreements to be finalised. Next come the collective agreements for regions and municipalities, and the state agreement will set the tone for the other agreements in the public sector. 

Omnibus follows up on Thursday with AU reactions to the agreement.

This text is machine translated and post-edited by Lisa Enevoldsen.