From next year, parents in Germany will receive higher child benefit payments, the federal government has announced. The FDP has called it the biggest child benefits hike in history.

Coalition government to raise child benefit payments

Germany's traffic-light coalition government has announced that it will increase child benefit payments (Kindergeld) come January 1, 2023. In the new year, parents will receive 250 euros per month for each child, regardless of whether they are the first, second, third or fourth born to the family. 

This means that, for a family's first two children, the monthly payment will rise from 219 to 250 euros per child per month. For the third child the monthly amount will rise from 225 to 250 euros. Kindergeld payments for the fourth child and subsequent children already stand at 250 euros per month and will remain the same. German newspaper SPIEGEL reported that FDP member Christoph Meyer described the increase as “the biggest child benefit payment rise in the history of the federal republic.” 

The German government currently delivers monthly Kindergeld payments to 16,8 million children. The original plan was to increase the amount to 237 euros per month, in line with current inflation rates. The planned uniform rise to 250 euros per month will be voted on in the Bundestag this afternoon.

German government plans new child security payments from 2025

The coalition government is also planning to develop a Basic Child Allowance scheme. The scheme would replace Kindergeld with a more diverse range of family support payments. These would include a standard, non-means-tested child benefit payment, which would be topped up for low-income families.

The payment amounts have not yet been determined. However, Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus (Greens) has said that a detailed outline of the scheme should be complete by the end of 2023, in time to bring the policy into practice by 2025.