Substitute periods of insurance

Apart from the periods of compulsory pension insurance or voluntary pension insurance (see above), there exist in the Czech pension system the so-called substitute periods of insurance. Pension insurance premiums are payable for the periods of compulsory insurance or voluntary insurance; no such premium is payable for the substitute periods of insurance, but these periods are nevertheless counted towards the years of insurance required for the entitlement to the pension under certain conditions and for its amount.

Participation in pension insurance due to the substitute periods of insurance applies to:

• Persons who studied at a secondary school or a post-secondary vocational school (hereinafter referred to as “secondary school”) or at a higher-education institution in the Czech Republic before 2010, for a period of up to the first six years of such study after reaching the age of 18,
• Persons registered with the Labour Office of the Czech Republic as job seekers during the period in which they are entitled to unemployment benefit or retraining allowance, and, for a maximum period of three years, also during a period in which they are not entitled to such benefits. This three-year period is assessed retrospectively from the date on which entitlement to an old-age pension arises. Any period without entitlement to unemployment benefit or retraining allowance prior to reaching the age of 55 is counted towards this period for a maximum of one year and does not include other periods treated as periods of insurance, or actual insurance periods, that overlap with the period of registration as a job seeker. A period during which unemployment benefit is not payable because a person registered as a job seeker is entitled to severance pay, redundancy pay, or other termination pay is also counted as a period during which unemployment benefit is payable,
• Persons with disabilities who are undergoing theoretical and practical training for employment or other gainful activity,
• Persons performing military service in the armed forces of the Czech Republic, provided they are not professional soldiers or soldiers in extended service (until 30 June 2016),
• Persons caring personally for a child up to four years old,
• Persons caring personally for a child under 10 years old who is dependent on the care of another person to the first degree (slight dependency), or for a person of any age who is dependent on the care of a person to the second degree (medium dependency) or the third degree (high dependency) or the fourth degree (complete dependency), provided they live together in the same household; the common household condition is not required if the person is a relative or a social care assistant according to law no. 108/2006 Coll.,
• Beneficiaries of a disability pension for a disability of the third degree [Section 39(2)(c)] from Czech insurance, up to the age that the entitlement to an old-age pension arises in accordance with Section 32;for the purposes of insurance affiliation, beneficiaries of a disability pension for a disability of the third degree [Section 39(2)(c)] are also persons who do not collect such pension although they fulfil the conditions for entitlement to such pension and collect a service benefit according to special laws,
• Persons after ending gainful activity generating sickness insurance affiliation pursuant to a special legal regulation, during temporary work incapacity that they did not purposefully induce, provided such temporary work incapacity arose during the gainful activity or in a protective period pursuant to special legal regulation, during a quarantine ordered pursuant to a special legal regulation during such gainful activity or during a protective period pursuant to a special legal regulation, during the support period with respect to a treatment allowance, during the support period with respect to long term care allowance, during the support period with respect to Fathers Post-Natal Care benefit and during the support period with respect to maternity assistance prior to birth,
• Persons who are provided with special protection and assistance under the witness and other persons Act in connection with criminal proceedings,
• Persons caring for a dependent minor child in informal foster care and persons with a child in their kinship care, provided the child is entitled to an allowance for the reimbursement the child’s needs under special legislation (for a maximum period of two years from the date on which the allowance is first granted). If such care began before 1 January 2022 and the carer received a foster care allowance, the period from 1 January 2022 until the date the foster care arrangement ends is treated as a period of insurance,
• The period of participation in insurance of the wife of the President of the Republic.

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Last update: 16. 6. 2025