German States Push Forward on Carer Support as National Reform Stalls

More than 700,000 working Germans currently look after relatives while holding down a job, and a growing number of regional authorities are launching their own initiatives to fill the gap left by stalled federal legislation. In North Rhine-Westphalia a state programme called “Reconciling Work and Care” went live in mid-June, with the city of Dortmund and the local employment agency already training “care guides” to advise their own staff. Those counsellors are now reaching more than 1,000 employees of the federal agency who find themselves in a caring role.

The scale of the need is stark. Across NRW alone 1.39 million people are officially classified as requiring care, and 36 of the state’s 53 districts have signed a charter committing to flexible working models and care-friendly structures. Nationally, the average monthly co-payment for a nursing home place stands at around €3,245 in the first year, a sum that leaves many families scrambling for options.

While local experiments multiply, the coalition in Berlin remains locked in a dispute over the proposed Pflegeneuordnungsgesetz. Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) wants to scrap the current €100,000 income threshold above which adult children must foot part of their parents’ care costs. That plan has drawn sharp opposition from the federal care commissioner, Katrin Staffler (CSU), who insists on a fairer distribution of the burden and instead proposes overhauling the so-called “Pflege-Bahr” — a state-subsidised insurance product that currently provides a maximum top-up of just five euros per month. With total spending in the care system running at €70 billion and required savings of more than €20 billion within two years, the financial pressure on all sides is intense.

For those who care at home, the support framework is detailed but patchy. Anyone looking after a relative with at least care grade 2 for a minimum of ten hours a week spread over two days can register with their long-term care insurance as a “Pflegeperson.” Doing so unlocks pension, accident and unemployment insurance contributions. Monthly pension payments range from €139 to €736 depending on the care grade, translating into an annual pension entitlement of roughly €7 to €37 per year of care. A combined annual allowance for respite care and short-term care of up to €3,539 is also available, and if the respite care is taken in increments of fewer than eight hours, the regular care allowance stays intact.

The politics of working time is also feeding the debate. CDU politician Jens Spahn has revived the idea of replacing daily maximum hours with a weekly cap, while the SPD insists on maintaining EU-compliant rest periods. These proposals sit alongside a persistent gender gap in care work that the latest data from Hamburg’s equality monitor, projecting into 2026, underscores: 87% of single parents are women. Although childcare enrolment for under?threes has climbed to 50%, fathers still work significantly longer hours during that early phase. Across the border in Austria, only 1% of fathers take parental leave of three to six months, while mothers average 400 days. Advocacy groups such as the DMÖ are calling for a more balanced system and a major expansion of childcare.

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