🤒 Child sickness benefit (Kinderkrankengeld)
In brief
If your child, who has statutory health insurance, falls ill and needs supervision, care or nursing and no other person living in the household can take this on, you as a parent with statutory insurance have an entitlement to paid release from work and child sickness benefit (Kinderkrankengeld) from your health insurance fund. The entitlement is limited in number of days and generally applies until the child's 12th birthday (regardless of age for children with disabilities who depend on help).
Step by step
- Obtain a medical certificateHave the paediatrician certify the child's illness and the necessity of your presence.
- Inform your employerInform your employer without delay of your absence and its expected duration.
- Apply to the health insurance fundSubmit the certificate promptly to your health insurance fund to receive child sickness benefit.
- Keep track of the days availableKeep track of the days available each year per child and parent, especially with several children or repeated illnesses.
Deadlines
- The exact number of entitlement days per child and parent per year, and any special rules for single parents or several children, have been adjusted several times in recent years (including temporary increases during the Covid pandemic) – the currently valid number of days should be asked directly at your health insurance fund or on its website, rather than relying on older information. Position under § 45 SGB V (gesetze-im-internet.de): standard case 10 working days per child (single parents 20), maximum 25 (50); only in calendar year 2026, 15 per child (single parents 30), maximum 35 (70). From 1 January 2027 the standard case applies again unless the legislature decides otherwise; an extension is not documented.
- Only parents with statutory health insurance are entitled to child sickness benefit, for children with statutory health insurance; privately insured people must check their entitlement under their individual insurance contract.
- Child sickness benefit requires that no other person living in the household can take over the care – for single parents this requirement practically falls away by itself.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
Legal basis and relationship to leave from work
§ 45 SGB V creates the entitlement to child sickness benefit as a cash benefit of the health insurance fund. For many employees, the employment-law entitlement to leave itself arises from § 45 Abs. 3 SGB V or from § 616 BGB (temporary prevention through no fault of one's own), unless this is excluded by the employment contract or a collective agreement; child sickness benefit then takes the place of the missing pay.
Duration of entitlement
The number of days for which child sickness benefit can be claimed per calendar year per child and parent is set by law and doubled for single parents, with a ceiling for several children. These numbers of days have been adjusted several times in the past (including temporary increases 2021–2023); for a currently reliable figure we deliberately refer to the website of your health insurance fund or the GKV-Spitzenverband (National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds), so as not to state a possibly outdated number.
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