Germany’s cabinet approved a reform of parental allowance, Elterngeld, on Friday. It is due to take effect on 1 November 2027, but the Bundestag still has to pass it. For parents it means more money in the first months, less afterwards, and a father who will have to take at least four months for the family to get the full 14.
What exactly changes?
Basic Elterngeld stays at up to 14 months. Four months are reserved for each parent and six more can be split freely. Single parents can still claim all 14. Reserved months that go unused are lost. The cut to just 12 months that Family Minister Karin Prien proposed in the summer has been dropped.
The new feature is a tiered rate: for each parent’s four reserved months the allowance would be 80 per cent of net pay before the birth, then 50 per cent. Until now it has mostly been about 65 per cent. According to the federal government the minimum rises from €300 to €330 and the maximum from €1,800 to €1,900, the first increase since Elterngeld was introduced in 2007. The dpa news agency reports a minimum of €320; we follow the government’s announcement, and the bill’s text will settle it. Christmas bonuses and other one-off pay would count towards the calculation, both parents could again claim at the same time without limits, and the sibling bonus would be paid for longer.
Who gains and who loses?
A simple example from our desk: on €2,000 net before the birth, a parent would receive €1,600 in the first four months instead of roughly €1,300 today, but only €1,000 from month five. The sum is simplified and no substitute for an Elterngeld calculator. It shows that families in which both parents step in early and evenly come out better than those where the mother stays home alone for long. That is the intention.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, mothers last year planned an average of 14.9 months of Elterngeld, fathers 3.8. Minister Prien calls the reform a “real boost for partnership”, while saying the budget should not be burdened more each year. Schleswig-Holstein’s social affairs minister Aminata Touré (Greens) warns that the drop to 50 per cent will “tear a deep hole in the family budget”. The German Economic Institute (IW) points out that without inflation adjustment the benefit has lost about 38 per cent of its purchasing power, so the increase only partly makes up for it.
The package also reforms maternity protection: blanket employment bans not required on health grounds would be removed, night work becomes easier for pregnant and breastfeeding women, and working-time protections for breastfeeding mothers would apply only in the child’s first year.
What does it mean for Ukrainian families?
Refugees from Ukraine can receive Elterngeld under certain conditions. According to the federal family portal they need a residence permit under Section 24 of the Residence Act that has been valid for at least six months, plus the general requirements. Those still waiting for the permit can apply for family benefits with the interim certificate (Fiktionsbescheinigung). The reform does not change these rules.
The cut-off matters: the government has not yet said which births the new rules will cover. Until they take effect the current law applies. We expect the Bundestag to tinker with details, above all the drop to 50 per cent, which welfare groups and parts of the opposition strongly criticise. Families expecting a baby next year should therefore plan their application under the rules in force at that time rather than wait for the reform.
Sources: Bundesregierung, Familienportal, Tagesspiegel/dpa, ZDFheute, t-online
