Child supplement, maintenance advance, parental allowance, children's sick days: these are the changes for families in the new year:
Child supplement increases
Families with low incomes and single parents will receive more child supplement: from 1 January 2024, the supplement will increase from a maximum of 250 euros to up to 292 euros per month and child.
The child supplement is additional financial support for working parents whose income is insufficient or only just sufficient to cover all of the family's needs.
More maintenance advance for single parents
The maintenance advance relieves the burden on single parents. It helps to secure the child's financial livelihood if the other parent does not pay maintenance or only pays irregularly.
From January 2024, the advance will be
- up to 230 euros per month for children aged between zero and five - 43 euros more than before
- up to 301 euros per month for children aged six to eleven - 49 euros more than before
- and for children aged twelve to 17 up to 395 euros per month - 57 euros more than before.
Child allowance increased
From 2024, the child allowance will increase by 360 euros to 6,384 euros per child.
Parents can receive allowances for children, for example the child allowance. This is taken into account in income tax and means that parents have to pay less tax.
Minimum maintenance for underage children will be increased
On 1 January 2024, the minimum maintenance for underage children in all age groups will be increased, as the cost of living has also risen in the past year. The increase is as follows:
- for children up to the age of six, the minimum maintenance will increase from the current 437 to 480 euros on 1 January 2024
- for children aged seven to twelve inclusive, the minimum maintenance will increase from 502 to 551 euros as of 1 January 2024
- for minor children aged 13 and over, the minimum maintenance will increase from 588 to 645 euros as of 1 January 2024.
Child sick days increased
If the child of working parents is ill, they can take time off work. They will then not be paid by their employer. In this case, those with statutory health insurance are entitled to child sick pay. As a rule, it amounts to 90 per cent of the lost net pay.
Children's sick days will be increased from ten to 15 working days per child and parent per year for 2024/2025. For single parents, there will now be 30 working days instead of 20. In future, a total of up to 35 working days per parent can be taken if there are several children, or 70 working days in the case of single parents. If parents take these days, they will receive child sick pay.
New rules for parental allowance from 1 April 2024
In order to meet the Federal Minister of Finance's savings targets and prevent a reduction in parental allowance for all parents, the coalition parties have agreed on the following changes to parental allowance: The limit of taxable income (income threshold), above which the entitlement to parental allowance ceases, will be set at 200,000 euros from 1 April 2024 for people with joint parental allowance entitlement. On 1 April 2025, the income threshold for couples will be moderately reduced again to 175,000 euros. Furthermore, the possibility for parents to receive parental allowance in parallel will be reorganised. In future, simultaneous receipt will only be possible for a maximum of one month up to the child's 12th month of life. There are exceptions to the parallel receipt of Parental Allowance Plus, the partnership bonus and for multiple births and premature babies.