Elterngeld - Parental allowance [en]

Dear Parents, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the website of the Parental Allowance Office. We are available by telephone, post and e-mail (group mailbox: “[e-mail]”) to answer all your questions about parental allowance.
You can reach the staff of the Parental Allowance Office on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:00 to 12:00.
In addition, the Youth Welfare Office (FamilienServiceBüro) can be reached centrally Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 12:00 and Monday to Thursday from 13:00 to 15:00.
Applications and documents can be sent by post.
Blank applications can be obtained daily from the office building at Frankfurter Allee 35/37 in the foyer of staircase B or downloaded.

Your Parental Allowance Office of the Youth Welfare Office Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg

What is parental benefit

After the birth of a child, parental allowance creates the necessary breathing space for a good start in life together with the new family member.

The parental allowance makes it easier for mothers and fathers to temporarily forego gainful employment completely or only partially and thus have more time to care for their child.

Link to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth

Link to the Family portal

Link to the online application (only available in German) ElterngeldDigital

Brochure with further information

• Parental Allowance and Parental Leave

  PDF-Document (8.0 MB)
  Document: Federal Ministry for Family Affairs

Your visit at the Youth Welfare Office

As we cannot provide an in-house interpreter for you, we would ask you to bring a person who can interpret for you, if needed.

To receive parental allowance, parents must

• be resident or normally resident in Germany,
• look after and raise the child themselves,
• have personal care of the child and live with him or her in the same household,
• work for not more than 32 hours a week.

Parental allowance is available for the employed, self-employed, unemployed, students, trainees and also for adoptive parents and, in exceptional cases, for relatives up to the third degree.

Parental allowance – key points:

Parental allowance compensates for the loss of net income for the parent looking after the child. The rate at which the allowance is paid is calculated based on the amount of income before the birth of the child:

• Net income over €1,240 = replacement rate 65%,
• Net income between €1,000 and €1,200 = replacement rate 67%
  (Net income between €1,200 and €1,240 gradual reduction to 65%)
• Net income lower than €1,000 = replacement rate increases gradually to 100%.

The parental allowance amounts to a minimum of €300 and a maximum of €1,800.

For multiple births, the parental allowance increases by €300 for each additional child. Families with an older child under 3 years of age (or 2 older children both under 6 years old) benefit from a sibling bonus.

The basic parental allowance can be claimed within the first 14 months of the child’s life.

A parent can receive parental allowance for a minimum of two and a maximum of twelve months. The parents have an additional two months if both parents use the parental allowance and they lose at least two months’ pay.

The parents can share the monthly allowance freely between themselves. They can receive parental allowance one after the other or at the same time.

Whilst claiming parental allowance, it is possible to work part time for up to 32 hours per week.

Parental benefit is generally counted as full income for the following social benefits:

• Unemployment benefit II (Bürgergeld)
• Social assistance (Sozialhilfe)
• Child supplement (Kinderzuschlag)

However, parents receive an amount that is not offset against social benefits if they earned income before the birth. The amount of parental allowance that is not taken into account corresponds to the income before the birth of the child and amounts to a maximum of € 300. Up to this amount, the parental allowance is not offset against the above-mentioned benefits.

Entitlement to parental allowance ceases if the entitled person had a taxable income of more than € 250,000 in the calendar year before the birth of the child (or the sum of the taxable income of both entitled persons exceeds € 300,000).

Parental allowance plus for births as of 1 July 2015

The new Parental Allowance Plus applies to births from 1 July 2015. You can find the latest information on Elterngeld Plus, the partnership bonus and more flexible parental leave for parents and employers at:

Parental allowance for brith as of 1 July 2015 [until 31.08..2021]

Parental allowance reform for births as of 01.09.2021

Changes and information for births from 01.09.2021 can be found here:

Parental allowance from 01.09.2021

Advice and application

The legal regulations on parental allowance are more differentiated than can be presented here. Therefore, please seek advice from the parental allowance office in your district and also use the information provided by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family Affairs and the Family Portal

The processing time for complete parental allowance applications is 3-4 weeks.

Please apply for parental allowance immediately after the birth of your child. Any missing documents can be handed in later.

Application forms and further information

All the necessary documents can be found in the application
and ElterngeldDigital

You can use the online application assistant of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth to complete your application for parental allowance online.
In addition to the birth certificate and your identity card, please also submit proof of your income, maternity allowance and, if applicable, parental leave.

• Employer confirmation

  PDF-Document (18.0 kB)

Information by telephone

• Monday 10.00 – 12.00
• Wednesday 10.00 – 12.00

No opening times of the parental allowance office at the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district authority. It is possible to make an appointment for a personal consultationat by telephone at monday and wednesday. Please then bring your own interpreter to the appointment.

This link will take you to the contact details (jurisdiction by the child's surname)

click here to find your case worker

Family Service Office

Please also take advantage of our offer at the Family Service Office

You can also hand in your application for parental allowance with the necessary documents at the Family Service Office.

Advice on parental allowance issues is only available at the Parental Allowance Office. Applications are available at all times in the Parental Allowance Office, in front of the Family Service Office and in the Citizen’s Offices.

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