Child sickness benefit in general

Employee's right to exemption

Workers may stay away from work if they have to supervise, care for or care for their sick child. In this case the work performance is not reasonable. Therefore, according to Section 275(3) of the German Civil Code (BGB – German Civil Code), the employee may temporarily stay away from work. This right is generally not limited to a certain number of days. What is relevant is how long the provision of work services is unacceptable in a specific individual case due to the child's illness. 

An entitlement to paid exemption may arise from Section 616 of the German Civil Code. Thereafter, the entitlement to compensation is maintained if the employee remains away from work for a relatively short period of time due to a personal disability through no fault of his own. The “not significant time” is not exactly quantified by law. Section 616 of the German Civil Code can be excluded by the employer by individual contract or by collective law regulations. 

If there is no or insufficient continuation of remuneration by the employer, statutory health insurance companies are entitled to child sickness benefits under § 45 SGB V.

Please note:
All employees are entitled to exemption, regardless of whether they are insured with a statutory health insurance company with or without entitlement to sickness benefits. The same applies to privately insured employees.  

What is child sickness benefit?

Statutory sick persons are entitled to child sickness benefits, also known as child care sickness benefits, if they have to stay away from work due to a medical certificate to supervise, care for or care for their sick child. The entitlement also exists if they are included as an accompanying person when the child is hospitalised. 

The service provider is the employee's statutory health insurance. The child sickness benefit is free of payroll tax, but is subject to the progression reservation. 

Who is entitled to child sickness benefit?

The employee shall be entitled to child sickness benefits if the following conditions are met: 

1. The employee is legally insured with entitlement to sickness benefits. The child is also covered by statutory health insurance (example: family insurance).
2. There is a child relationship: In addition to the biological and adopted children, stepchildren, grandchildren and foster children are also considered.
3. The child has not reached the age of 12 or has a disability, which makes them dependent on Help. 
4. There is a medical certificate certifying the duration and necessity of the care. This must be submitted to the health insurance company and the employer. The employer must also submit an electronic compensation compensation benefit (EEL) to the employee's health insurance fund. 
5. In principle, no other people living in the household may be available to look after or care for the child. 

Since 01.01.2024 child sickness benefits also exist if a parent has to be admitted for medical reasons when the child is hospitalized. In children who have not yet reached the age of nine, the medical necessity of inclusion is irrefutably suspected. The duration is certified by the medical facility. 

Duration and amount of child sickness benefits

Duration of child sick pay

Entitlement to child sickness benefits arises per calendar year and per child. The current maximum duration for 2026 is:

• 15 working days per child for co-parents
• 30 working days per child for single parents

In the case of multiple children, the maximum entitlement is:

• 35 working days per parent (co-parenting)
• 70 working days for single parents

Amount of child sick pay

The amount of child sick pay is usually 90% of the net lost wage. 

Inpatient admission in hospital

An entitlement to child sickness benefits also exists if a parent has to be taken in as an accompanying person for medical reasons when the child is hospitalised.

• In children who have not yet reached the age of nine, the medical necessity of inclusion is irrefutably suspected.
• The duration of the admission is certified by the medical institution.

In the case of hospital admission, make sure that the following two questions are answered within the absence period under additional information: 

Time of EEL contribution statement for child sickness benefit

The EEL contribution statement (contribution statement 02) for child sickness benefits becomes visible in Personio only in compliance or cannot be sent until the billing month in which the absence is due has been fully settled and released.

Create EEL contribution statement 02 for child sickness benefits

Review prerequisites

To create an EEL contribution statement for the child's illness, the following conditions must be met:

• Type of health insurance = Statutory
• Consider in German payroll = Yes
• Make sure that the following attributes are correctly filled in the employee profile: 
  • Is paid leave excluded in the case of “child sick”?
  • Paid leave in case of “child sick” is excluded by.

If necessary, also check the history and make any necessary adjustments.

Record absences 

To record the time off for a child's illness, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Time Off tab in the employee profile.
2. Choose the appropriate absence type.
3. Enter the start and end dates of the absence.
4. Answer the questions under Additional Information
5. Save the time off with send request and skip approval if necessary.

Complete and send EEL notification 

Make sure that the EEL contribution statement becomes visible in compliance only after the billing month in which the absence occurred has been successfully approved.

In the last step, you need to fill in, review and send the EEL notification. This involves the following steps:

1. Open the Payroll > Compliance pane.

2. Search the appropriate employee and click Apply for EEL certification. 

   Tip: You can access these via the filter function and the category Income certificate. 

3. Check the automatically created template for the EEL notification. We will explain what you need to pay attention to in the relevant section below. 
4. Click Submit Request to send the EEL contribution statement to the appropriate social security institution. 

You can also decline the EEL contribution statement, for example if you have changed providers to Personio Payroll and the EEL contribution statement has already been created by the pre-processor. 

If you accidentally rejected the EEL contribution statement, you can create a new one by clearing and recreating the time off in the employee profile. 

How to check the EEL form 

General information about employee and organization

First, check the information provided by employees and organizations. Note that incorrect information cannot be adjusted directly in the form. To correct the employee data, adjust the relevant attributes in employee profile. You can edit the company master data in the settings.

Children's sick days and holidays data

Check the information under data on children's sick days. Note that some of the information has already been taken from the employee profile and the relevant time off. 

Fill in missing information if necessary or correct incorrectly filed data. 

Feedback

The following grounds for surrender under the EEL procedure exist to clearly define entitlements to child sickness benefits:

• 72 - Requirement Number of exempt working days
• 73 - Feedback Number of exempt working days

Since there is no statutory maximum entitlement period for inpatient admission, health insurance companies use reason for surrender 72 to ask employers how many working days are allocated to home care. The number of days is then transmitted by the employer with the reason for surrender 73. 

For more information on feedback in the EEL process, see our article on theme. 

Sample calculations to reduce pay

Salary recipients

Please note:
Results may differ depending on the method used to calculate the pro rata salary. The following examples are intended solely for illustrative purposes.  

Example 1: Proportional salary calculation based on calendar days

An employee stays away from work from 04.05. to 05.05. due to illness of the child. He is entitled to child sickness benefits for this time period. Paid leave is excluded by the work contract. The employee earns a monthly salary of €3,000.00 gross.

The precipitated content is as follows: 

Example 2: Proportional salary calculation based on 30 days 

Example 2.1: Calendar month with 30 days

An employee stays away from work from April 10th to April 11th due to illness of the child. He is entitled to child sickness benefits for this time period. Paid leave is excluded by the work contract. The employee earns a monthly salary of €3,000.00 gross.

The precipitated content is as follows: 

Example 2.2: Calendar month with 31 days 

An employee stays away from work from 04.05. to 05.05. due to illness of the child. He is entitled to child sickness benefits for this time period. Paid leave is excluded by the work contract. The employee earns a monthly salary of €3,000.00 gross.

The precipitated content is as follows: 

Hourly wage earners

An employee stays away from work from 04.05. to 05.05. due to illness of the child. He is entitled to child sickness benefits for this time period. Paid leave is excluded by the work contract. The employee receives an hourly salary of €15.00 per hour. He has a daily working time of 8 hours daily

The loss of remuneration is as follows: 

FAQ

Are employees without child sickness benefits entitled to an exemption?

Yes. In principle, all employees (including privately insured persons) are entitled to an exemption, regardless of whether they are entitled to child sickness benefits. The legal basis may arise, for example, from the right to refuse performance (§ 275 (3) BGB).

Who is entitled to child sickness benefit?

entitlement exists if, inter alia, the following conditions are met:

• The employee is legally insured with entitlement to sickness benefits, and the child is also legally insured (e.g. family insured).
• The child is under 12 years of age or disabled and needs Help.
• There is a medical certificate of duration and necessity of care.
• There is no other people in the household who can take care of them.
  In addition, the employer must submit an EEL contribution statement to the health insurance company.

What is the child sickness benefit?

As a rule, it amounts to 90% of the defaulted net. The service provider is the employee's statutory health insurance. The child sickness benefit is free of payroll tax, but is subject to the progression reservation.

What happens if one parent is legally insured and the other is privately insured?

If a parent and the child have statutory insurance, that parent may receive child sickness benefits.
If the child is co-insured with the privately insured parent, there is no entitlement to child sickness benefits.

What happens if the parent is on short time work?

Child sickness benefits can also be claimed in short time work if there is statutory insurance. Short time allowance and child sickness benefit may not be received at the same time.

Why do I not see the EEL contribution statement in compliance?

First, check the following points step by step: 

1. Ensure that the employee is generally eligible for child sickness benefits.
2. Check that the correct absenteeism type is recorded and that the periods are correct.
3. Verify that the payroll run has already been cleared. The EEL contribution statement for child sickness benefits is not generated until the month in which the absence is fully accounted for.

If the EEL contribution statement is still not displayed afterwards, please contact our Payroll Specialists as the Payroll Manager. These support you in the solution. 

Are parents with a mini-job entitled to child sickness benefits?

As a rule, mini-jobbers are not insured with entitlement to sickness benefits in the GKV. They are then entitled to unpaid leave, but do not receive child sickness benefits.