If care is needed in the family, it is usually relatives who take over the care, often giving up their job or at least working reduced hours.
To ensure that care is not at the expense of your own pension provision, long-term care insurance pays contributions to pension insurance for family carers under certain conditions.
Since the Second Care Strengthening Act (01.01.2017), home carers who already receive an old-age pension before the standard retirement age can also increase their pension by providing non-professional home care .
Requirements: Who receives the pension supplement for care?
- The person requiring care is entitled to benefits from
of the long-term care insurance and at least care degree 2. - Nursing care is not a gainful occupation.
- It comprises at least ten hours per week in a domestic setting.
environment, regularly spread over at least two days of the week
for at least two months a year. - The caregiver works a maximum of 30 hours a week in addition to providing care.
- The place of residence or habitual abode of the caregiver
is in Germany, in the European Economic Area (EU state,
Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland) or in Switzerland.
It does not matter whether the caregiver receives financial recognition from the person in need of care. Depending on the amount, however, the long-term care insurance fund can check whether the care is non-gainful or whether it is a genuine employment relationship.
Further information
How high the personal pension entitlement is and how this affects your own pension depends on how many hours the care involves and what level of care the person in need of care has.
German Pension Insurance provides advice on this on the free telephone number 0800 1000 4800 or on the Internet at www.deutsche-rentenversicherung.de.
The
German Pension Insurance brochure
also provides information on the possibility of topping up your old-age pension by providing non-occupational care.