The beneficiaries of aid? All about eligibility here

Eligible beneficiaries do not receive only for self-help – they also receive health care benefits for relatives. Find out the conditions under which you are eligible for aid.

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With the aid, the employer fulfills his duty to provide health care to his civil servants and their families. Therefore, the eligibility depends on your employer and what he has regulated for state and local officials through special state regulations. Most federal states are guided by what the federal government provides for its civil servants in the federal state aid regulation; in others there are differences. You can find out which special features apply in the countries under the menu item "Where applies what?".

At the federal level, the following groups of people are eligible:

Officials, including probationary officials, temporary officials and revocable officials such as trainee lawyers,
judge,
soldiers,
Retired officials, soldiers and judges,
Widows, widowers and surviving dependents from a registered civil partnership,
Orphans and
Retired officials

The prerequisite is that you receive remuneration, official salaries, candidate salaries, retirement pensions, orphan’s or widow’s benefits, transition fees or maintenance payments. However, the entitlement does not cease to apply even if payments are not made because retirement and crediting regulations apply.

In exceptional cases, you will also be entitled to benefits on special leave without pay if it does not last longer than a month. Particularly important for young civil servants, probation officials and candidates: they must have been in the public service for at least one year without interruption, and there must be no limitation for less than one year. Honorary officials or honorary judges are not eligible for aid.

Aid during part-time

Civil servants also have the right, like ordinary people employee to reduce their working hours. In principle, this is possible up to half of regular working hours. In this case, the eligibility for aid remains unabated. You can find out more about part-time work for civil servants in the brochure of the Federal Ministry of the Interior "Part-time work and leave of absence".

Aid guide compact: What families need to know. Download now !

Aid in times of child rearing or care

Particularly favorable rules apply during parental leave. During this period, you will receive the same allowance rate that you received the day before your child was born – regardless of whether you are caring for your child at home or working part-time again.

Even if you receive no parental allowance but parental allowance during this time, the contributions to supplementary health insurance and nursing care insurance must continue to be paid. In order to burden young civil servants in the lower grades as little as possible, you will also receive a subsidy for the contributions if your earnings do not exceed the compulsory health insurance limit.

Even after parental leave, the legislature privileges officials who look after children under the age of 18 and therefore only work part-time or on leave without pay. During this time, you have no direct eligibility for aid; the duty of the employer to provide health care does not expire. That is why you receive health care benefits in accordance with the rules of the allowance in accordance with the Federal Officials Act (Section 92 (5) sentence 1).

An example:

Before the birth of her daughter, Sonja G. worked as a civil servant at the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief in Bonn. Now she has been on parental leave for six months. During this time, she receives the 50 percent allowance that she received before the birth of her child. Because she has taken out private residual cost insurance, the allowance office also reimburses her contributions during parental leave – and not just up to the limit of EUR 31. As a candidate, your employer even grants you full contributions to residual cost insurance during your parental leave.

Sonja wants to return to service as soon as possible. Her colleague Maria is different: she has decided to look after her now five-year-old son longer. Her direct entitlement to benefits has ceased to exist because she is on leave without pay. She only receives health care benefits analogous to the allowance.

The most important things summarized:

During the three-year parental leave, beneficiaries receive the same allowance rate as before the child was born.
In addition, the expenses for supplementary health insurance can be reimbursed.
During longer periods of care, civil servants receive health care benefits in accordance with the rules on benefits.

Aid in caring for relatives

The same applies if you take the time to care for relatives. In this case, too, you are not entitled to direct benefits if you are on leave without pay. Instead, you are entitled to health care benefits according to the rules of the allowance.

In certain circumstances, the subsidy office even reimburses your contributions to health insurance and long-term care insurance. Anyone who takes advantage of long-term care in the sense of the Long-Term Care Act receives a subsidy for expenses for voluntary statutory or private health insurance and long-term care insurance. The amount of this grant is based on the minimum contribution of a person who is voluntarily insured in the statutory health insurance.

You will also receive allowance for eligible relatives

In addition to allowances for your own expenses, you will also receive appropriate benefits for eligible relatives. You can make a claim for spouses and registered partners, provided that their own income in the second calendar year before the application is no higher than 17,000 euros per year. Until 2009, however, the income limit was higher, at 18,000 euros. To avoid hardship, the legislature has therefore created a transitional regulation. For spouses who have previously been subject to this regulation, the higher limit continues to apply until they are exceeded for the first time.

You can also receive allowance for eligible relatives during the year if the total amount is not reached in this calendar year – but then only with reservation of revocation. Every year, eligible relatives must prove the actual amount of their income with a copy of their tax assessment.

Aid for children is linked to child benefit

You can also receive allowance for your children. Provided that the child is included in your family allowance. This is the case if you receive child benefit for this child. This can be very long: If your child is in training, is doing a voluntary social year or is studying, it can be taken into account up to the age of 25 and you can apply for help for it.

An example:

The young policeman Andreas lives with his girlfriend Claudia and their daughter Ellie. After parental leave, Claudia works again in her job as an insurance employee and receives child benefit. Although it is not he, but his girlfriend, who receives the child benefit, Andreas receives the child-related part of the family allowance in deviation from the normal case. In this case, it is sufficient for the family allowance that he is fundamentally entitled, but that the child benefit is paid to a person who does not work in the public service. This enables him to claim benefits for his child.

Attention: If both parents are entitled to benefits themselves, they have to make a decision. Since the family allowance is tied to child benefit, only one of you can apply for the allowance. The one who gets the child benefit.

Another example:

Inspector Bastian is married to Franziska, who also works for a federal administration. Bastian receives child benefit for their twin sons. Here he gets the family allowance alone. As a result, only he can claim child allowance. Franziska has no claim of her own.

The most important things summarized:

A child is eligible if you

receive child benefit for it or
are entitled to child benefit, but it is paid to the other parent who is not employed in the public service, or
receive a child allowance abroad or do not receive it only because it lives in the household of another custodial parent in Germany.

When multiple allowances come together

The situation becomes complicated when different permissions come together – as in the case of the couple Bastian and Franziska. As a member of the federal administration, Franziska is entitled to benefits if she receives remuneration. Without her own entitlement to benefits, she would be eligible as a spouse at Bastian. In this case, however, the entitlement from Franziska’s own employment relationship takes precedence. Bastian cannot aid his Mrs apply for.

The situation would be different if Franziska stayed at home for another year after taking parental leave to look after the twins. During this time, she was entitled to health care benefits, although she received no benefits. This claim would then be less than that of her spouse Bastian. During this time, he could claim 70 percent allowance for them as eligible relatives.

Aid agencies require proof of supplementary health insurance

Basically, the legislator assumes that part of the salary is intended to cover financial burdens from illnesses. The allowance is an additional benefit from the employer. Since 2009, the general obligation to have health insurance also applies to beneficiaries. Health insurance must at least reimburse costs for outpatient and inpatient treatment. Since then, even beneficiaries can no longer rely solely on the care of their employer, which only covers part of these costs. Therefore, you must take out at least one supplementary health insurance (residual cost insurance) that covers the part of the treatment costs that is not covered by the allowance rate. The subsidy office now requires proof of such supplementary health insurance when you apply for subsidy.

Last update: 16.11.2016

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