UVG Disability Pension (Invalidenrente)
The UVG disability pension is the long-term benefit of Swiss compulsory accident insurance for accident-related disability of at least 10 percent (Art. 18 UVG); it amounts to 80 percent of the insured earnings for full disability and, where it coincides with an IV or AHV pension, is paid as a complementary pension up to 90 percent of the insured earnings (Art. 20 UVG).
Entitlement and commencement
If the insured person becomes at least 10 percent disabled as a result of an accident, they are entitled to a disability pension (Art. 18 para. 1 UVG). The degree of disability is determined under Art. 16 ATSG by comparing incomes: the earned income the person could achieve on a balanced labour market after the onset of disability and after rehabilitation is compared with the income they would have earned without the health impairment. The pension entitlement arises once no significant improvement can be expected from continued medical treatment and any rehabilitation measures of the IV have been completed; at the same time the daily allowance and medical treatment end (Art. 19 para. 1 UVG).
Amount and complementary pension
The pension amounts to 80 percent of the insured earnings for full disability and is reduced proportionally for partial disability (Art. 20 para. 1 UVG). At the maximum insured earnings of CHF 148,200 (as of 2026) the maximum full pension is CHF 118,560 per year. If the insured person is also entitled to an IV or AHV pension, accident insurance pays a complementary pension: it equals the difference between 90 percent of the insured earnings and the IV or AHV pension, but no more than the ordinary UVG pension amount (Art. 20 para. 2 UVG, Art. 31–33 UVV). Since the 2017 revision, pensions are reduced on reaching the reference age if the person was in their 45th year or older at the time of the accident, graded by age up to a maximum of 40 percent (Art. 20 para. 2ter UVG). Pensions are revised where the degree of disability changes significantly (Art. 22 UVG, Art. 17 ATSG); below a degree of disability of 10 percent there is no entitlement, and small pensions may be commuted into a lump sum (Art. 35 UVG).
Country comparison
In Germany the injury pension (Verletztenrente) starts from a reduction in earning capacity of 20 percent and amounts, as a full pension, to two thirds of the annual earnings; in Austria the disability pension (Versehrtenrente) also applies the 20 percent threshold with a full pension of 66 2/3 percent of the assessment basis. Both systems assess the pension abstractly on the basis of medical experience values, whereas the UVG disability pension rests on a concrete comparison of earned income and, at 80 or 90 percent, offers the highest replacement level in the three-country comparison.
Legal basis
- CH: Art. 18–20 and 22 UVG
- CH: Art. 8 and 16 ATSG (disability, degree of disability)
- CH: Art. 31–33 UVV (complementary pensions)