Parental leave

Each parent is entitled to parental leave for the care and upbringing of his or her child until the child has reached the age of three. Parental leave for mothers begins at the earliest after the end of the maternity leave period, for fathers at the earliest with the birth of the child. In order to be able to claim parental leave, you must be employed during the period of parental leave. Parental leave also ends when the employment relationship ends. During your parental leave, you may work up to 30 hours per week. Part-time work with another employer or as a self-employed person requires the employer's consent. As working parents, you can each take parental leave alone or together. Your parental leave entitlements are treated as independent of each other.

More information can be found in the brochure linked below.

Basic Parental Allowance (Basiselterngeld)

Mothers and fathers are entitled to parental allowance if they:

• Take care of and raise their children themselves after birth
• Do not work more than 30 hours a week
• Live in a household with their children, and
• Have a residence or domicile in Germany

Parental allowance is granted within the first 14 months of the child's life. You can extend the entitlement from 12 months to a total of 14 months by taking two partner months. Parents can take parental leave simultaneously or consecutively.

More information can be found in the brochure linked below.

Parental Allowance Plus (ElterngeldPlus)

For children born on or after1 July 2015, you can extend your entitlement to parental allowance by four additional months if both parents work part-time, between 25 and 30 hours, simultaneously.

More information can be found here and in the brochure linked below.

In addition, you can now apply for parental allowance digitally via this platform: Elterngeld Digital.

You can find more detailed information here or in the brochure "Elterngeld, ElterngeldPlus und Elternzeit - Das Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz" published by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.

Source: https://www.bmfsfj.de/bmfsfj/service/publikationen/elterngeld-elterngeldplus-und-elternzeit--73770

Für deutsche Version hier klicken