Two rules that shape the amount
People estimating their disability pension for the first time usually calculate with the earnings points from their pension statement alone — and are shocked. In fact the pension often turns out considerably higher. The reason is the credited period. On the other side is the reduction, which lowers the pension permanently. This article explains both rules.
The credited period
The credited period (Zurechnungszeit, § 59 SGB VI) is the time from the onset of reduced earning capacity up to a statutory age. It is treated as if you had kept working and paying contributions during this time — at the average of your working life so far.
The end age rises gradually (§ 253a SGB VI) and depends on the year in which the pension starts:
2024: 66 years 1 month · 2025: 66 years 2 months · 2026: 66 years 3 months · 2027: 66 years 4 months · 2028: 66 years 6 months · 2029: 66 years 8 months · 2030: 66 years 10 months · from 2031: 67 years.
The credited period ends at the regular retirement age at the latest. For older birth cohorts with a lower retirement age it can therefore end slightly earlier.
How the credited period is valued
The pension insurance calculates an average from your insurance history (overall performance valuation, §§ 71 and 72 SGB VI). Simplified: the sum of your earnings points is divided by the number of so-called assessable months, i.e. the months from your 17th birthday to the onset of reduced earning capacity. Non-contributory periods such as school, university or illness without contributions are excluded. In addition, a comparative valuation based only on full-value contributions is carried out, and the higher value counts.
Two consequences matter: first, gaps without any insurance period lower the average, because they are counted. So have your insurance account clarified before applying. Second, good earning years improve the average and thus the value of the entire credited period.
Example: 30 earnings points in 396 months gives about 0.0758 points per month. If reduced earning capacity begins at 50 and the pension starts in 2026, the credited period covers 196 months. That adds about 14.85 earnings points — an increase of roughly 50%.
The reduction via the access factor
Because the disability pension begins before the regular retirement age, it is reduced. For every month before the end of the month in which you turn 65, the access factor drops by 0.003 (§ 77(2) no. 3 SGB VI). If the pension begins before age 62, it is calculated as if it began at 62. So there are at most 36 reduction months, and the reduction is at most 10.8%.
In practice this means: almost everyone who loses their earning capacity before 62 has the full reduction of 10.8%. Between 62 and 65 it falls by 0.3 percentage points with every month.
With 40 years of compulsory contributions, credit periods and substitute periods, the thresholds shift: reductions only apply to a pension starting before 63, and the maximum reduction is based on age 60 instead of 62 (§ 77(4) SGB VI). The credited period does not count towards these 40 years.
Both effects together
In the example above, the credited period turns 30 earnings points into 44.85. After the 10.8% reduction, 40.00 personal earnings points remain. At a pension value of €42.52 this gives a full disability pension of about €1,701. Without the credited period it would be only about €1,138. So the credited period more than makes up for the reduction.
Both values stay with you into old age: the later regular old-age pension is based on at least the previous personal earnings points (§ 88 SGB VI) — with the credited period and with the reduction.
Try out different onset dates in the disability pension calculator. The breakdown shows how many months of credited period and how many reduction months are in your pension. What your old-age pension would look like without reduced earning capacity is shown by the pension calculator.