Another 14 months - roll backwards in parental allowance

Duration of receipt remains 14 months - roll backwards for parental allowance As of: October 28, 2026 • 4:11 p.m

According to the Family Ministry's plans, parental allowance will remain at up to 14 months. A planned reduction to twelve months will not be implemented. In addition, minimum and maximum amounts should increase.

According to plans by Federal Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU), parental allowance should not be reduced to twelve months. This emerges from a document from the Family Ministry, which is available exclusively to the ARD capital studio. Accordingly, parental allowance should continue to be paid out for 14 months.

Partly because of public criticism and also the justice debate, the government is now likely to change course. In an interview with the ARD capital studio, Prien explained that it was not a “roll backwards”. However, a previous draft envisaged a reduction in the duration of the benefit.

Prien said she noticed criticism and took it seriously. What particularly convinced her: "The fact that young women and men, families, fathers and mothers told me: How are we supposed to get used to the daycare center?"

The new model aims to make parental allowance “more modern, simpler, more cooperative and more attractive”. For the CDU minister, the aspect of partnership is central: "We also wanted to provide an incentive so that more fathers are willing to get involved."

Parental allowance may not be reduced to twelve months after all. more

These are the planned regulations of the Ministry of Family Affairs in detail:

These incentives are intended to encourage fathers to spend more time looking after their children - a clear goal of the black-red coalition.

The state supports families with many different benefits. more

But how does Prien want to save money with this? A reform of parental allowance was partly due to the savings requirement for all houses. “There will still be a savings effect, even with this model,” says Prien. But she admits: "It will be lower than the original model."

There is no difference for 2027, as less parental allowance will be paid out due to the lower birth rate. From 2030, Prien plans to save almost 1.3 billion euros with the new model and the reform - that is also less than originally planned. "That's a little less, that's what we've also discussed with the Federal Ministry of Finance. All other budget issues will be discussed in the next few weeks," said Prien.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, the birth rate per woman has fallen to its lowest level in almost 30 years. more

Criticism of the plans comes from Clemens Fuest, President of the Ifo Institute. “The savings targets that were set out here will not be achieved,” he told the ARD capital studio. Men still earned more on average than women. "That's why greater activation of fathers here means that the whole thing will also be more expensive. So more parental allowance will be paid," said Fuest with regard to the federal government's budget planning.

From the economist's point of view, the reform points in the "wrong direction". The intention was to limit the performance moderately. “That has now apparently failed, the service is being expanded. That is the wrong direction - for budgetary reasons,” said Fuest.

The Ministry of Education and Family Affairs, like all ministers, must make savings. In the summer, the ministry drew up a draft of a parental allowance reform under strict austerity guidelines.

This included, among other things, a reduction in the benefit period from 14 to twelve months. Three months of parental allowance would have been reserved for each parent. The partners could have divided it up between themselves for another six months. In this model, if only one parent had decided to take parental leave, the state would have provided help for a maximum of nine months.

The Federal Council has approved child benefit without application. The changeover is scheduled to begin in 2027 in two stages. more

Parental allowance was introduced in 2007 and was intended to improve the compatibility of family and work. Since then, a minimum of 300 euros per month and a maximum of 1,800 euros have been available upon request. The following currently applies: Parental allowance is paid for 14 months after the birth of a child if both parents contribute to the care for at least two months each.

In the coalition agreement, the black-red government planned to further develop parental allowance and provide more incentives for more father participation.

This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | Planned parental allowance reform: roll backwards in terms of duration of benefit | Oct 28, 2026 | 2:07 p.m