Plans by Family Minister Karin Prien (CDU) to reduce the duration of parental allowance payments have drawn criticism from the opposition and trade unions. The proposal is "the bankruptcy declaration of a government that evidently now regards children only as a luxury good," Left Party family policy politician Mandy Eißing told the news agency AFP on Tuesday. Criticism also came from the Greens and the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB).
As part of the reform of parental allowance, Prien wants to reduce the maximum benefit period from the current 14 months to 12 months. The parental allowance model is to be modified accordingly so that the so-called "father months" are increased from two to three months. Currently, the full duration of parental allowance can only be used if one parent takes at least two months. Since this is usually the fathers, these are colloquially referred to as father months.
According to the plans, the monthly amounts paid out are also to rise slightly, the minimum payment from 300 to 330 euros, and the maximum from 1,800 to 1,900 euros. However, the basic rule capping parental allowance at 65 percent of net income is to remain in place.
The reform comes against the backdrop of the government's austerity measures. A ministry spokesperson pointed out, however, that the draft law is still under interdepartmental review. The news portal Politico was first to quote from the draft law.
More incentives for fathers are "all well and good, but not if, at the same time, the entire benefit period is being slashed," Eißing of the Left Party told AFP. The planned reform "steals valuable time from families," she said. She also said the "measly increase" in payments was "a bad joke" given soaring food prices. Real partnership, she explained, would exist if both parents received a full, dedicated year for their child.
Greens deputy parliamentary group leader Misbah Khan told AFP that while she had "understanding for the tight budget situation," where cuts are made is a political decision. "Whoever takes out the red pen specifically on parental allowance sends a fatal signal to all families in the country." Instead of cutting parental allowance, she said, what is needed is "finally a reform that noticeably relieves families and improves their situation, not worsens it."
DGB deputy chair Elke Hannack said of the plans from the Family Ministry that the one additional mandatory parental allowance month was the only positive news. The rest, she continued, was "a step backward for gender equality policy." "That won't achieve greater partnership within the family." To promote a fair distribution of care work between women and men, she said, there needed to be more financial incentives, "as were also promised in the coalition agreement."
The DGB also considers the discussed increases in the amounts too small. This, it said, does not even account for "the inflation-related losses of recent years." What is needed, Hannack demanded, is an adjustment of the maximum and minimum parental allowance amounts to price developments.
In the coalition agreement, the Union and SPD had agreed to further develop parental allowance "by creating more incentives for greater partnership, in particular more father involvement in sole responsibility." This is to be achieved, among other things, through a changed number and division of the parental allowance benefit months.
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