The German Family Ministry has indicated that the plan to reduce parental allowance duration from 14 to 12 months has been abandoned. According to a document released by the Family Ministry, the allowance will continue to be paid for 14 months. However, the planned reform aims to strengthen father involvement in child-rearing.
The proposed structural reform introduces a 4-6-4 model. Under this system, four months are formally reserved for the mother and four months are reserved for the father. An additional six months are designated for flexible sharing between parents. Single parents will also be able to receive the parental allowance for up to 14 months.
In the reserved months, the income replacement rate is set to increase to 80 percent of the previous net income. Conversely, during the flexibly allocated months, the rate will drop to 50 percent. Furthermore, the ministry plans to raise the minimum benefit amount from €300 to €330, while the maximum amount will increase from €1,800 to €1,900. The Family Ministry confirmed these figures in Berlin on Wednesday, and the corresponding draft legislation is currently undergoing internal governmental consultation.
Initially, due to austerity requirements, the ministry had considered cutting the duration to twelve months. The original draft suggested that three months of parental allowance would be reserved for each parent, with six months remaining for free distribution.
