Federal Parenting Benefit and Parental Leave Act
Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz (BEEG)
The Act on Parenting Benefit and Parental Leave (Federal Parenting Benefit and Parental Leave Act – BEEG) applies to births after 1 January 2007. The parenting benefit is a tax-funded transfer payment to families with small children and replaces the parental allowance as of 1 January 2007. It does not provide permanent assistance; instead it is granted only for the 12 to 14 months directly following the birth of the child. The amount of parenting benefit depends on the parent’s income and is regarded as a temporary wage/salary replacement.
The Parenting Benefit Act supports young families in the decisive phase after the birth of a child. On the one hand, there is a compensation for the lost income of the parents in this phase. The Act provides assistance so that both parents are able to secure their economic existence and to avoid permanent losses and the risk of becoming dependent on state transfer payments; the Act also provides for freedom of choice between family and employment and promotes economic self-sufficiency.
On the other hand, the Act creates an incentive so that fathers will take a share of the parental leave and mothers will return to employment. Due to its structure as a wage/salary replacement, it is no longer primarily a matter of a parent earning less money and therefore taking parental leave when the parents discharge their parental and childcare responsibilities. The two-month leave for the partner is also an incentive to consider the child’s up-bringing as the joint responsibility of both parents. The parents can choose which parent, which amount and for which period a parent claims parental leave during the potential assistance period of 14 months.
With the further extension of childcare facilities for all age groups, parents continue to have an opportunity of reconciling the child’s education and their own employment when the period of the parenting benefit comes to an end.
The formal rules on parental leave continue to apply. The former rules apply to children born prior to 1 January 2007, and childcare benefit continues to be available.
