pension entitlement

noun · Rentenanspruch

A German statutory pension is earned rather than accumulated: contributions produce earnings points measured against average earnings, and a claim arises only once a minimum period of insurance has been completed. English pension entitlement covers occupational and private arrangements as well, which in German are the betriebliche Altersversorgung and private Vorsorge, each with its own rules.

Which translation, when

Anwartschaft und Anspruchtwo stages: while contributions are being paid the insured person builds an Anwartschaft, an expectant position, and only when the statutory waiting period is complete and the age or other conditions are met does it become a Rentenanspruch; translating both as entitlement removes a distinction German documents rely on.

Umlage statt Kapitalhow it is financed: the statutory scheme is financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, so today’s contributions fund today’s pensions and no individual fund exists that could be transferred or cashed in; a translation that speaks of a pension pot describes a British or American arrangement rather than the German one.

drei Säulenwhat else the English word covers: beside the statutory scheme stand the betriebliche Altersversorgung, occupational provision through the employer with its own statutory framework, and private Vorsorge; an English text about pension entitlement may mean any of the three, so the German rendering has to be chosen from the context rather than from the word.

Why

Pension entitlement is a phrase that has to be placed before it can be translated, because German provision for old age is organised in three layers and the English words do not distinguish them. The first layer is the statutory pension insurance, and its logic is unfamiliar to readers used to funded schemes. Contributions do not accumulate in an account belonging to the insured person; they are used to pay current pensions, and what the insured person acquires is a position measured in earnings points, one point for a year in which he earned the national average, proportionally more or less otherwise. A claim arises only once a minimum period of insurance has been completed and the age or other conditions are met, which is why German documents distinguish the Anwartschaft, the expectant position built up over a working life, from the Rentenanspruch, the claim that finally accrues. English uses entitlement for both, and a translation that follows it loses a distinction on which pension information statements are built. The second layer is occupational provision, the betriebliche Altersversorgung, promised by the employer and governed by its own statute, with rules on vesting and on insolvency protection that have no counterpart in the statutory scheme. The third is private provision. An English text about pension entitlement may concern any of the three, and a translator who reaches for Rentenanspruch by default will regularly place an occupational promise in the statutory system, where its rules do not fit at all.

Typical mistakes

The statutory scheme is pay-as-you-go and builds no individual fund, so speaking of a pension pot describes a different system.
Anwartschaft and Rentenanspruch are two stages, so rendering both as entitlement removes a distinction German pension documents rely on.
Occupational and private provision are separate layers with their own rules, so Rentenanspruch is not a default translation for every pension entitlement.

What matters

Translating a German pension statement or a relocation package: the text should identify which of the three layers is meant, keep Anwartschaft apart from Rentenanspruch, and avoid fund vocabulary for the statutory scheme.

Authority

§ 28d SGB IV

What the machine misses

Left to a machine, pension entitlement becomes Pensionsanspruch, which in German points at civil servants and company pensions rather than at the statutory scheme, and the statutory term is the Rentenanspruch, preceded by an Anwartschaft and measured in earnings points; the wrong word also carries fund vocabulary into a pay-as-you-go system.

See what the machine does with this clause →

Examples

a pension entitlement	ein Rentenanspruch
an accrued expectancy	eine Anwartschaft
earnings points	Entgeltpunkte
occupational pension provision	die betriebliche Altersversorgung

More notes on these sections

social security contributions Sozialversicherungsbeiträge

statutory health insurance gesetzliche Krankenversicherung