Elterngeld

Parental allowance is governed by the Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act.

What is parental allowance?

Parental allowance is compensation for previous income. You receive parental allowance if you work less or not at all after the birth in order to look after your child in the first few months.

What types of parental allowance are there?

There are three types of parental allowance:

1. Basic parental allowance
2. Parental allowance plus
3. Partnership bonus

The variants can be combined with each other.

Basic parental allowance

You can only receive basic parental allowance within the first 14 months of your child's life.

Interesting facts at a glance:

• Basic parental allowance is paid as financial start-up support until the baby's 1st birthday.
• If the other parent also stays at home for at least 2 months, the payment is extended by 2 months to a total of 14 months.
• The months of entitlement can be divided between the two parents as desired.
• Single parents can receive up to 14 months of parental allowance.
• Part-time employment of up to 32 hours per week is possible.
• The basic parental allowance is generally 67% of the average net earnings of the last 12 months, with a minimum of 300 and a maximum of 1,800 euros per month.

Parental allowance plus

Instead of 1 month of basic parental allowance, you can also claim two months of parental allowance plus. This is intended for parents who want to return to work part-time soon after the birth of their child.

Interesting facts at a glance:

• You can receive Parental Allowance Plus for twice as long as Basic Parental Allowance.
• However, it is only half as high and amounts to between 150 and 900 euros per month.
• Would you like to combine family and career and work up to 32 hours a week? Then the monthly Parental Allowance Plus can be just as high as the monthly Basic Parental Allowance with part-time work.
• Parental Allowance Plus is therefore particularly worthwhile for parents who return to work early after the birth of their child.

Partnership bonus

The partnership bonus is an offer for parents who share their family and work responsibilities.

The requirements for the partnership bonus are

• Both parents work 24 to 32 hours per week for 2 to 4 months at the same time and look after their child together.
• This means that the period of entitlement can be extended by up to 4 additional months to a total of 28 months.

Where can I apply for parental allowance?

You can apply for parental allowance at your local parental allowance office. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the districts and independent cities are responsible for processing parental allowance. You can find the parental allowance office responsible for you in the database below. You can also get advice there.

Find a parental allowance office.

In the event of complaints that the parental allowance office has not been able to resolve, the respective supervisory authority of the federal state can be contacted.

Parental allowance is a support benefit for parents after the birth of a child. Parental allowance replaces part of the lost income if you want to be there for your child after the birth and interrupt or limit your professional work.

You can apply for parental allowance if you

• have your place of residence or habitual abode in Germany,
• live in a household with your child and look after and raise it yourself,
• have no or no full-time employment (max. 30 hours per week) after the birth,
• had a taxable income of no more than 250,000 euros in the last completed assessment period. For couples, the limit is 500,000 euros.