A-Z

In Germany the parental allowance (Elterngeld) is a monthly allowance entitled upon request to the parent of a newborn. To be entitled to the Elterngeld you must:

• work less than 30 hours a week in the months in which you get the allowance
• be resident in Germany (for more details about Elterngeld to foreigners check dedicated portals)
• not earn more than 250,000 euro during the year before the birth of the child

The Elterngeld amount depends on the income of the parent in the year before the birth, and covers 65 % to 67 % of the monthly net income.

The application for Elterngeld should be submitted shortly after the birth of the child (it requires a birth certificate) to the Elterngeld office (Elterngeldstelle). Each federal state has a different forms for the application (www.familien-wegweiser.de). The allowance can be paid retroactively for a maximum of 3 months from the birth. The Elterngeld request can still be changed at a later date, if the changes affect future months and retroactively for changes that affect the past 3 months. In all other cases the changes are possible in special cases.

There are two different forms of Elterngeld: Basiselterngeld and Elterngeld Plus. Moreover, the ElterngeldPlus can entitle in certain conditions to earn an extra amount of allowance called Partnerschaft Bonus. The system is very flexible and it is possible to combine both types of Elterngeld in one plan.

 

Basiselterngeld (basic parental allowance)

The Basiselterngeld consists of a monthly allowance between 300 and 1,800 euro per month (proportional to the previous income) covering maximum 14 months from the day of the birth, and it can be received only in those 14 months after birth of the child.

• If only one parent applies for it, the allowance will be given for maximum 12 months.
• If the couple decide to alternate (e.g. the mother takes 8 months and the father takes 6 months) then the couple will be entitled to a total amount of 14 months that can be taken also overlapping.
• Single parents are entitled to 14 months alone.

Basiselterngeld can also be earned while working part-time (up to 30 hours per week). The Elterngeld will be calculated as 65% of the difference between the money you earned before the birth, versus the current part-time. Anyway, if you opt to work part-time you should consider to apply for ElterngeldPlus, because it will give you overall more allowance in total.

 

Elterngeld Plus

The Elterngeld Plus system is slightly more complicated, but it is totally worth to consider if you or your partner wish to go back working part-time during the first year of life the child. Mostly it will even bring the couple to earn overall more Elterngeld, especially if combined with the Partnerschaft Bonus.

The requirement to apply for ElterngeldPlus is to work maximum 30 hours per week (which is the same requirement for the Basiselterngeld during part-time work).

To understand the logic of ElterngeldPlus, just imagine that your Basiselterngeld monthly allowance (full-time-off) is reduced to half, but double in the number of months in which you are entitled to take it.

As for the Basiselterngeld during part-time work, the allowance will be calculated as 65% of the difference between the previous salary after birth and the current part-time salary, but the maximum amount of ElterngeldPlus you can earn is 50% of the Basiselterngeld that you would earn if you will be full time off work. This correspond to an amount from 150 and 900 euro per month. However, you will be entitled to double of the months, therefore your total income at the end of the Elterngeld time will be overall much higher than the Basiselterngeld. On top of it you will of course have your part-time salary accordingly to your contract with your employee.

Since the it is not possible to work during the Mutterschutz, it is also not possible to apply for ElterngeldPlus in the first 2 months after birth. This means that after the first two months a mother will have 10 more months of Elterngeld to use as Basiselterngeld, or alternatively to double as ElterngeldPlus (20 months). If the partner decide to take over some months as Elterngeld, then the couple will have in total 12 months of Basiselterngeld or 24 months of ElterngeldPlus.

The ElternzeitPlus months can be taken by both parents, in sequence or overlapping, and in combination with the Basiselterngeld. The combination are almost endless, but it is worth to consider the following:

if both parents apply for ElterngeldPlus and work for 4 consecutive months part-time between 20 to 30 hours per week they will be entitled to an extra 4 months of ElterngeldPlus each, which is called Partnerschaft Bonus.

Übersetzung kommt noch…

To completely understand the German system of Elternzeit / Elterngeld / Mutterschutz is important to keep in mind that these three systems are mostly independent, follow different rules and should be managed separately. However eventually parents need to find a strategy that brings them all together in one defined plan. This concept creates often some confusion, but it is important to take some patience and time to understand it, in order to make best use of the high flexibility of the German system that can help both parents to match family and work time.

Let’s see the differences:

The Elternzeit is the time a parent is allowed by law to take-off from work after the birth of a child, without any risk of negative counter-action by the employer (e.g. firing, decrease of salary). During this time the parent is not receiving any salary by the employer, but could in principle work part time up to 30 hours per week. A parent can apply for Elternzeit for 3 consecutive years or up to 8 years with interruption. In principle it is possible to take Elternzeit without applying for Elterngeld. Usually most of the parents apply for Elternzeit only during the Elterngeld time (1-2 years), so that their time-off will be covered by the Elterngeld allowance.

The Elterngeld is a monthly allowance that a parent is entitled to get (upon request) after the birth of her/his child, even if she/he still works (as long as she/he works less than 30 hours a week during the months of Elterngeld). In principle a parent can receive Elterngeld even without applying for Elternzeit. However, if a parent is employed full time and wants to request Elterngeld he/she will have to reduce the working hours below 30, and might find easier to simply request for Elternzeit during this same time.

The Mutterschutz time is the period a mother must take off from work 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after giving birth. This time is mandatory by law and a woman is not allowed to work during this time, not even in part-time form. Just keep in mind:

• The Elternzeit of a woman can start only after Mutterschutz time (therefore 2 months after the birth).
• During the first two months after the birth, the Mutterschutz time overlaps with the first two Elterngeld months (if Elterngeld is requested). In fact, the money that the mother earns in these two months do not come from the Elterngeld, but from the employer and correspond to two full salaries.

 

Lenghts of Elternzeit and request procedure

The Elternzeit is the time a parent is allowed by law to take-off from work after the birth of a child, without any risk of negative counter-action by the employer (e.g. firing, decrease of salary). A parent can take up to 3 years parental leave per child and can split the parental leaves in three blocks until the child’s 8th birthday. During this time the parent is not receiving any salary by the employer, but he/she could in principle work part time up to 30 hours per week. In order to gain a parent allowance (Elterngeld) a separate application for must be submitted.

The Elternzeit request is very flexible and can be changed over the time, although eventually it always depends on the flexibility of the employer. It can be requested for few weeks up to months or years, from any date after the child birth. However, most of the parents logically match the Elternzeit with Elterngeld so that they will be covered by the allowance during their time-off or part time, but the two requests do not necessarily need to match.

Each parent interested in taking Elternzeit must send an application request  to her/his employer in a written form on paper, originally signed, 7 weeks before the starting of the Elternzeit.

Note that a mother must be in Mutterschutz for the first two months after the birth, therefore the Elternzeit always starts two months after the birth. This means that a mother usually needs to send the application for Elternzeit during the first week after the child birth. A practical tip is to start filling all forms for Elternzeit before the child birth and submit them to the employer as soon as the child is born.

For the partner instead it is possible to take Elternzeit immediately after the child birth, and in such case an application should be submitted 7 weeks before the estimated birth date (this rule can be flexible if the child is born prematurely). It is also possible to apply for short or long periods of Elternzeit over the course of the next years, as long as the application is submitted 7 weeks before.

The application for Elternzeit can also be modified during the course of the following year, as long as the employee is informed accordingly.

Elternzeit does not necessarily means full time off. If you wish, you have the right to request your employer to change your contract to part-time during Elternzeit for minimum 15 to maximum 30 hours per week.

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In cologne you have to apply for the birth certifcate in the hospital. The hospital will submit the request to the cityhall. It takes them up to 4 weeks. Once its ready you have to collect it from the hospital.

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An Hebamme is a an healthcare professional qualified to follow a woman during pregnancy, birth and post-partum. It is really common in Germany for pregnant women to hire an Hebamme, since it is also fully covered by major health insurances. For this reason there is also an high demand. Start to search for an Hebamme as soon as possible during your pregnancy. Here a list of suggestions and links to find an Hebamme:

• Look into the website of the hospital you have chosen for your delivery, and search for the Hebamme list. If you are lucky you might hire the same Hebamme who will attend you during the birth.
• Search online for Hebamme portals
• Ask friends and relatives the contact of their Hebamme

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Kinderbetreuung is often used to indicate all the possible types of childcare. It is common to find this term when searching for childcare solutions for example in the portal of your own townhall.

The two most common types of whole-day regular childcare in Germany are:

KiTa (Kindertagesstätte) (Day-care center): usually a center where several education professional take care of several pre-school children. It can be public or private

Tagesmutter/Tagesvater: a private person who is qualified and certified by the State to take care of pre-school children (maximum 5) usually at her/his own place or in a rented dedicated location.

Both KiTa and Tagesmutter/Tagesvater are often subsidized by the townhall, which cover part of fully the cost even for private centers. It can happen that the townhall start to subsidize the child-care only from a certain age.

By law the townhall needs to find a childcare center for all children after one-year old, if the parents make request. The solution offered by the townhall could be both a KiTa or a Tagespflege.

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Amount of child benefit
As a rule, you will receive child benefit of at least 204 euros a month for each child.

If you have several children, their number determines the total amount of child benefit you receive. This also applies if one of the children does not live with you: from the third child onwards, you are entitled to more child benefit – even if the other parent has siblings living with them.

Child benefit since 1 July 2019
1st child: 204 Euro
2nd child: 204 Euro
3rd child: 210 Euro
from the 4th child: 235 Euro

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Höhe des Kindergeldes
In der Regel erhalten Sie für jedes Kind mindestens 204 Euro Kindergeld im Monat.

Haben Sie mehrere Kinder, bestimmt ihre Anzahl die Höhe des Kindergeldes, das Sie insgesamt erhalten. Das gilt auch dann, wenn eines der Kinder nicht bei Ihnen lebt: Ab dem dritten Kind steht Ihnen mehr Kindergeld zu – auch, wenn dessen Geschwister beim anderen Elternteil leben.

Kindergeld seit dem 1. Juli 2019
1. Kind: 204 Euro
2. Kind: 204 Euro
3. Kind: 210 Euro
ab dem 4. Kind: 235 Euro

EN: Kindergeld

A Kinderkrippe (literally children-crib) is a form of day-care (Kindertagesstätte) that accept children from few months till 2-3 years old. Many Kinderkrippe accept children from 6 months old, some also from 3-4 months, but rarely a Kinderkrippe would accept children below 3 months old. This is due several reasons:

• During the Mutterschutz time (2 months after the child’s birth) is forbidden for a woman to work therefore few women have need for Kinderkrippe in this time.
• Most of the women in Germany fully use their right to the Elternzeit and Elterngeld and few would go back to work before 6-12 months after the child’s birth
• The request for a place in a Kinderkrippe can often be submitted only after the child’s birth and the approval takes anyways a few months

For more information check out under “Kindertagesstätte”.

Übersetzung kommt noch…

The word Kindergarten in Germany indicates a day-care center (Kindertagesstätte) covering children from 2-3 years old till 5-6 years old, which is the time when they must go to primary school (Grundschule).

For more information check out under “Kindertagesstätte”.

Übersetzung kommt noch…

A Kindertagesstätte (literally children-day-care center), often abbreviated to KiTa or Kita, is a public or private pre-school where a group of professionals take care of children usually from few-months old till 6-years old. In Germany KiTa and Tagespflege (Tagesmutter/Tagesvater) are the two most popular options for daily regular childcare (Kinderbetreuung).

Type of KiTa and children ages

There are two types of Kindertagesstätte, often combined in one single center:

• Kinderkrippe, taking care of children from few months till 2-3 years old
• Kindergarten, taking care of children from 2-3 years old till 5-6 years old

Costs

A typical cost of a KiTa can vary from a few hundred euro per month up to thousands of euro. In several towns KiTa are subsidized by the townhall, which covers partially or even fully the KiTa fee, even for private centers. Often the townhall charges the families proportionally to their total income. It can also happen that the townhall starts to subsidize the cost of child-care only from a certain age, which is usually around one-year old.

Sign-up

The overall demand for KiTa in Germany is higher than the total offer of places, especially in certain federal States, therefore an early sign-up (even one year earlier) is very important to increase the chance to get a spot for your child. Typically the turn-over of children in KiTa happens in August, when the school year starts and older children leave the KiTA to enter the primary school. For this reason several KiTa start to accept registrations during the winter and confirm the acceptance of the child during the spring, reserving a spot for the child to start in August. Therefore, if you miss the registration deadline in early spring (e.g. middle of March) you might not be able to sign up your child till the following year.

Often it is possible to submit a single registration for a KiTa at the online portal of your townhall. The townhall office will then inform the KiTa and coordinate the assignment. Some townhalls limit the maximum number of requests to few KiTa centers only, others have unlimited sign-up for any KiTa you wish.

Before choosing the selections of KiTa for signing up, keep in mind some factors that contribute to acceptance of your child and his/her position in the ranking:

• the distance of your place from the KiTa (the closer the better)
• the presence of a sibling in the same center (which will increase the chances)
• the age group of your child (Kinderkrippe and Kindergarten have independent head-counts so you will only “compete” for a spot with other children of the same age range)

Moreover by law the townhall must find a childcare center for all children after one-year old, if the parents make request, therefore children above 1-year old might have priority over smaller children in the selection ranking.

Also, do not forget that more and more companies in Germany set-up KiTa inside their building, or alternatively give to employees the benefit to have priorities or subsidized prices in agreement with certain KiTa in the town. Get informed with your employer before starting the search.

 

Opening times

The opening times and holiday schedules can vary from KiTa to KiTa. Most of them go from 25 to 45 hours a day, for 5 days a week and are closed during public holidays. Some KiTa would also close during some of the school-holidays (Ferien) which are many and distributed during the year and can vary in each federal State.

Most KiTa have very strict daily schedule and some might even close as early as 1pm. Signing up for a KiTa 25 hours a day does not mean that you could bring your child late in the morning and picking him/her up any time in the afternoon. Generally they like to keep a routine and wants all children to be in the center before breakfast time e.g. 9am. Most KiTa also would strongly encourage parents to bring the child every week-day and disagree with a plan of one-day off a week.

If a parent look for a more flexible form of day-care Tagesmutter/Tagesvater can be more accommodating, although they will also require a certain routine and scheduling.

 

Eingewöhnung (acclimation time)

When scheduling your return to work it is also very important to keep in mind that the starting month in a new KiTa will be dedicated to acclimation (Eingewöhnung), which is taken very seriously in Germany. During this time the child is slowly introduced to the new environment starting from a few hours per day till full time requested, and one of the parents must be initially fully available next to the child, and gradually decrease his/her presence in the KiTa over the following weeks. This means that practically one of the two parents will not be able to go back to work full time during the Eingewöhnung month.

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The word Mutterschutz (maternity protection) indicates the sum of the protections established by the German law for a mother and her child before and after childbirth. These include some prohibitions to the employer to act against the mother’s interest (e.g. forcing to work overtime or in unsafe situations, firing her, or reducing her salary at her return to work). The Mutterschutz law also indicate that a mother can and must take off from work 6 weeks before and 8 weeks after giving birth. This time is mandatory by law and a woman is not allowed to work during this time, not even in part-time form.

During Mutterschutz time a woman will earn regular full salary from the employer and accumulate holiday-days regularly, which she could use up at her return to work (even after several months or years of Elternzeit depending on the flexibility of the employer to carry over holidays into next years).

Mutterschutz should not be confused with Elternzeit and Elterngeld.

Just keep in mind:

• The Elternzeit of a woman can start only after the Mutterschutz time (therefore 2 months after the childbirth).
• During the first two months after the childbirth, the Mutterschutz time overlaps with the first two Elterngeld months (if Elterngeld is requested). In fact, the money that the mother earns in these two months do not come from the Elterngeld, but from the employer and correspond to two full salaries.
• Since it is forbidden for a woman to work even part-time during the Mutterschutz it is not possible to apply for ElterngeldPlus during this time.

For more information check out under “Elternzeit” and “Elterngeld”.

Übersetzung kommt noch…

This bonus is part of the Elterngeld system. If both parents apply for ElterngeldPlus and work for 4 consecutive months in ElterngeldPlus part-time between 20 to 30 hours per week they will be entitled to an extra 4 months of ElterngeldPlus each to use in parallel, which is called Partnerschaft Bonus.

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A Tagesmutter (f.) of Tagesvater (m.) is a private person certified and trained for taking care of children in her/his own private apartment or in a dedicated place. Each Tagesmutter/Tagesvater can take care of about 5 children of different ages at the same time. Tagesmutter/Tagesvater, as well as other forms of day-care, are in high demand in Germany, therefore it is important to start your search several months before the date in which you wish to start a day-care for your child. Most of them do not have a website or their name in a specific online list, and it is also difficult to find a phone contact list. Sometimes it is possible to find a Tagesmutter/Tagesvater via private networking or by posting ads on walls in public places (e.g. supermarkets) or social media. One option is also to get in contact with a specific office in your town-hall, indicating in which date (or range of dates) you would like to start the day care for your child and making sure you are entered in the Tagesmutter/Tagesvater waiting list. You will be contacted a few months before a place becomes available.

As for other child-care (Kinderbetreuung), also the cost of a Tagesmutter/Tagesvater can be subsidized by the townhall. Sometimes the subsidy is only active after a certain age of the child e.g. one-year old. For more information about subsidy and sign-up procedure the fastest way is often to contact directly the townhall office.

Often the Tagesmutter/Tagesvater is indicated online under the word Tagespflege (day-care), although this word can also more generally include the daily care of an elder or other person in need.

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