Additional periods

Periods of study and vocational training are taken into account if the person concerned has

• attended a public or private secondary, higher or university education establishment, in Luxembourg or abroad, for general or vocational courses
• taken adult evening classes in secondary or technical education
• completed a work placement provided for in the programme of study and required in order to obtain the diploma concluding the said studies.

The following are deemed to be studies

• annual holiday periods, including those consecutive to the school year,
• interruptions to studies for health reasons,
• at the end of studies, the period between the end of the school year and the following 31 October.

The person concerned must provide proof of periods of study and training, in particular by means of diplomas, study certificates or apprenticeship certificates. Statements made by the applicant, even those made under oath, are not accepted, nor is proof provided by witnesses.

Unemployment legislation stipulates that young people who are unemployed at the end of their training must be registered as a job applicant for 26 weeks before they can receive unemployment benefit. In principle, this registration must take place before the age of 21. However, if the person concerned has undergone extended training, this age is raised to 23, 25 or 28 respectively, depending on the length of the course.

It should be noted that the periods in question must have occurred after 1 July 1976, the date on which the legislation creating an employment fund came into force.

The mother is presumed to have taken account of periods of upbringing. However, the father may prove otherwise:

• if custody of the child has been entrusted to the father,
• if the mother had a professional occupation while the father did not,
• if the father lived alone with the child,
• if both spouses were working at the same time and if the father had the lower professional income and, secondarily, if he was younger.

Proof can only be provided up to the expiry of an insured risk on the part of one of the spouses.

The child's disability is assessed in accordance with the rules set out in the legislation on family allowances.

The minimums apply in the case of multiple births (e.g. twins) and the birth of two children within an interval of no more than two years. In the latter case, the period must also be dated from the birth of the first child.

Example:

Considering a couple who have had two children
Date of birth of the children:
25.01.1970 and 27.10.1971

Taking into account child-raising periods:
1st phase 25.01.1970 - 25.01.1976
2nd phase 27.10.1971 - 27.10.1977
= 7 years, 9 months, 2 days
Minimum for 2 children = 8 years

Observation:

Assuming that in the example chosen there was a third birth on 1 January 1979, all the children should be taken into account when applying the minimum. The period of 7 years and 9 months is therefore increased by a further period of 6 years (01.01.1979 - 01.01.1985), giving a total of 13 years and 9 months. Considering that the guaranteed period for bringing up three children, which amounts to 10 years, has been exceeded, the minimum rule no longer comes into play.

These are periods exempt from the payment of contributions in the agricultural, self-employed and liberal professions when the resources of the persons concerned were less than the minimum social wage.

These are periods of agricultural, self-employed or liberal profession activity prior to the introduction of compulsory insurance, i.e.:

• agricultural activity as the main occupation or as an assistant before 1 October 1956,
• agricultural activity carried out before 1 March 1974 by a wife whose husband was enrolled with the agricultural health insurance,
• agricultural activity carried out before 1 January 1987 by a person running a 15-hectare business and whose spouse had a main occupation other than farming,
• craft activity carried out as a main occupation before 1 June 1951,
• craft activity carried out as an assistant before 1 August 1965,
• commercial activity carried out as a main occupation or as an assistant before 1 February 1960,
• craft or commercial activity carried out as spouse's assistant before 1 July 1974,
• professional activity as a main occupation or as an assistant before 1 September 1964.

Periods exempt from contributions under former employee schemes

• sickness days prior to 1 August 1974 under the salaried employees' scheme
• periods of activity in the public interest as a member of a religious association in Luxembourg before 1 August 1974.
  

The periods in question are taken into account in the insurance record of a person who provides care for a person who cannot survive without the assistance of a third party. In some cases, they constitute an extension of the child-raising periods for one of the parents in respect of care given to children aged over 18 suffering from a physical or mental disability.