In the coming years, the federal government will continue to provide billions for daycare centers in Germany. However, unlike in the past, the states will no longer be allowed to use the money to pay low fees.
In future, the states will no longer be allowed to use the billions of federal funds for daycare funding to relieve parents of fees. Instead, from 2025 onwards, the money will mainly be used to secure and recruit skilled workers, according to a paper on the planned new edition of the Daycare Quality Act, which was made available to the German Press Agency.
Until now, the federal states could use the funds of two billion euros annually to reduce or abolish daycare fees up to a maximum of 49 percent. With the new law, which is due to pass the cabinet in the coming weeks, this option will no longer be available. According to the Ministry of Family Affairs, only six federal states have so far made use of the option to spend part of the corresponding federal funds on low daycare fees. The state of Berlin, for example, where childcare is free except for a basic fee and possible additional payments, only uses the state funds for this, it says.
Ministry does not expect higher daycare fees
That is why the ministry says it does not expect the new law to lead to higher daycare fees. The states will continue to have the option of using their state funds to finance the relief of parents from fees. There will also be a transition period of six months during which the use of funds to control daycare fees will remain permitted as before. The new daycare quality law is to come into force on January 1, 2025. However, coordination within the federal government has only just begun.
This year and last year, the federal government has promoted the quality of daycare centers with funds totaling four billion euros. A further four billion euros are to be made available in the next two years, i.e. in 2025 and 2026.
Tens of thousands of daycare professionals are missing
The amendment to the law will oblige the states to invest the money in at least one measure to recruit and secure qualified staff, the paper states. Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus (Greens) stressed that the quality of the facilities will be the main focus in the future when funding daycare centers – hence the focus on skilled workers. Investments in early education are “central to the educational success and equal opportunities of our children,” Paus told the dpa. Nationwide, the government is pursuing the goal of achieving “equal standards in all daycare centers.”
However, the minister did not specify a target number for the desired staff. However, Paus recently said that by 2030 there would be a shortage of 50,000 to 90,000 skilled workers in Germany’s daycare centers. According to the recently published daycare report by the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband, there could be a shortage of 125,000 skilled workers in the entire childcare sector. It is not clear how this gap can be filled in terms of personnel.
Source: Stern
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