On October 18, 2024, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued the "Interim Measures for the Basic Pension Insurance Sickness and Disability Allowance for Enterprise Employees" (referred to as the "Interim Measures"), which will come into effect on January 1, 2025. This article interprets which groups of people can apply, how to apply, and the distribution standards after the implementation of the Interim Measures as follows:

1. Application conditions for disability allowance

Applicants for disability allowance must meet the following conditions simultaneously: (1) not reaching the statutory retirement age; (2) Participate in the basic pension insurance for enterprise employees; (3) Completely lose the ability to work due to illness or non work related disability.

2. Payment standards and application deadline for disability allowance

The distribution standards and application period for disability allowance depend on the cumulative payment years of basic pension insurance and the deadline until the statutory retirement age when applying for disability allowance, as follows:


Note: The difference between basic pension and basic pension is that basic pension consists of basic pension and personal account pension. If the applicant has completed the minimum payment period for receiving pension insurance and is within 5 years (inclusive) of the statutory retirement age, the standard for receiving disability allowance shall be the same as their retirement benefits; Those who are dissatisfied with the minimum period of receiving pension insurance can only receive basic pension, and personal account pension cannot be received temporarily.

How to determine the application location for disability allowance

According to the relevant regulations of basic pension insurance, determine the place of receiving benefits, and collect the basic pension insurance relationship to the place of receiving benefits, and apply for disability allowance at the place of receiving benefits.

Under what circumstances should the disability allowance be discontinued

If one of the following situations occurs, the disability allowance will be suspended: (1) continuing to work and paying according to national regulations; (2) Those who have been re examined and identified as not fully incapable of working; (3) Failure to participate in the re examination and appraisal on time without justifiable reasons.

What are the benefits enjoyed by the surviving family members of the applicant who dies during the period of receiving disability allowance?

Survivors can receive funeral subsidies and pensions.

The effective implementation of the "Interim Measures" means that "sick leave" and "resignation" will be replaced by the policy of disability allowance. Previously, the "Interim Measures for Workers' Retirement and Resignation" issued by the State Council in 1978 and the "Notice on Preventing and Correcting Issues Related to Early Retirement of Enterprise Employees in Violation of National Regulations" issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (now revoked) in 1999 stipulated that those who have reached the age of 50 for men and 45 for women, and have worked continuously for ten years, and have been certified by a hospital and confirmed by a labor appraisal committee, and have completely lost their ability to work, should retire; Those who do not meet the conditions for retirement should resign. Afterwards, various regions issued regulations on the conditions for early retirement of employees who have completely lost their ability to work due to illness or non work reasons (such as the condition of increasing the cumulative payment period by 15 years), the calculation and payment standards for early retirement pension and retirement living expenses. However, after the implementation of the Interim Measures, the retirement and resignation policies for employees of enterprises in various regions who have completely lost their ability to work due to illness or non work related reasons will cease to be implemented. This means that employees who have completely lost their ability to work due to illness or non work related reasons can no longer apply the policies of "sick leave" and "resignation"