The stove bonus

It’s official! As of next year, the German government is introducing „Betreuungsgeld:“ a child-care subsidy, known to critics as the „Herdprämie“ (stove bonus). Parents, who choose to take care of their children at home will be entitled to 100 Euros per month in 2013 and as of 2014, 150 Euros per month from the child’s second birthday onwards. Its introduction is highly controversial and has been greatly disputed in Germany; opinion polls, in fact, show that most Germans are actually against it.

Where do I stand? Does it even make sense to go back to work or should I stay at home in front of the stove; which is, contentiously, what the German government seems to be encouraging? As a part-time working mother, with no grandparents nearby and whose distribution of working hours means forking out for a full-time nursery place for her child with a 2^nd on its way; it is certainly food for thought.

On the face of it, 150 Euros per month per child doesn’t seem like much and ultimately not enough to be worth sacrificing even your part-time salary over; 150 Euros certainly isn’t going to pay the rent. That’s what I thought until my husband did the maths. Say you work 75%, earning the “average” German salary: 1050 Euros a month. Once you have paid for two full-time nursery places at 500 Euros each, your salary is already gone. If you choose not to work and stay at home to look after your two children, you would be “earning” 1300 Euros by saving the nursery fees AND receiving the child-care subsidy on top.  Crazy but true. Obviously this doesn’t apply if you are a high-earner and also fails to take into account pension allowance and other benefits.

It remains to be seen what kind of effect this new subsidy will have in Germany, particularly at a time when there is a severe shortage of nursery places. In Scandinavia, where an even higher child-care subsidy is paid, statistics show that mothers have been discouraged from returning to work, especially those who worked or would work part-time.  The statistics there also show that a high percentage of people claiming the benefit are immigrants; arguably those who would benefit the most from integrating their children into schools to learn the language from a young age.

Personally, I still think that the two billion Euros, which is the estimated cost of the new subsidy, would be better spent investing in providing more nursery places for 1-3 year olds. My priority as a working mum will always be spending as much time as possible with my daughter, but I also value having the opportunity to be able to maintain my career; even if only part-time.