Child care; application for compensation under the Protection Against Infection Act.

Employers and self-employed persons can apply for compensation or reimbursement in accordance with Section 56 (1a) of the Infection Protection Act (IfSG).

Description

Working custodians or foster parents of children under the age of twelve or who are disabled and dependent on assistance can receive compensation under certain circumstances in the event of an officially ordered ban on entering, isolation (quarantine) of the child or closure of care facilities or schools. The prerequisite is that the custodians or foster parents suffer a loss of earnings because they have to care for their children themselves due to the ban on entry, isolation or closure for lack of other reasonable care options.

As an employee, you will generally not be able to make the request yourself. Please contact your employer to make the claim. In the case of employees, the employer will pay the compensation to the district governments, so to speak, as a disbursement agent. The employer can then apply to the relevant district government for reimbursement. You must demonstrate to the employer that you cannot provide any other reasonable care during this period (see form "No other reasonable care" under "Forms").

Prerequisites

  • Determination of an epidemic situation of national scope by the German Bundestag (in the case of the Corona pandemic, from March 28, 2020 to November 25, 2021; until the end of September 23, 2022, regardless of an established epidemic situation of national scope). During this period, compensation is granted for a maximum of ten weeks, or 20 weeks in the case of single parents, per year. The first annual period thus ended at the end of March 27, 2021, and the following annual period (with the renewed possibility of claiming 10 or 20 weeks of compensation for loss of earnings under Section 56 (1a) IfSG) began on March 28, 2021.
  • The school or institution for the care of children or an institution for disabled persons attended by the child of the employee or self-employed person is temporarily closed to prevent the spread of an infectious or communicable disease or its entry, including on the basis of segregation, is prohibited or school or company vacations are ordered or extended by the competent authority for reasons of infection control, compulsory attendance at a school is suspended or access to childcare is restricted, or there is an official recommendation to refrain from attending a childcare facility, a school or a facility for persons with disabilities, and
  • the child must not have reached the age of twelve (i.e., the child is 11 years of age or younger) or the child has a disability and is dependent on assistance; and
  • the child must be cared for at home by the employee or self-employed person himself or herself during the period of closure because
  • other reasonable care cannot be provided, and
  • the employed person must suffer a loss of earnings as a result.

Detailed information on compensation or reimbursement pursuant to Section 56 (1a) IfSG can be found under "Further links".

Procedure

The application must always be submitted online (see "Online procedure").

  • If the working custodian is an employee, the application is submitted by the employer.
  • If the person with custody is self-employed, the application is submitted by the self-employed person him/herself.

The enforcement authority is the district government with local jurisdiction over the applicant (cf. Section 69 (1) sentence 1 and sentence 2 of the Zuständigkeitsverordnung - ZustV).

Special notes

A claim for compensation under Section 56 (1a) IfSG only applies if the closure or the ban on entering schools or childcare facilities or the other constellations listed above under Section 56 (1a) No. 1 IfSG alone result in a loss of earnings. This is not the case, for example, if and insofar as the employee can already be absent from work under other statutory, collective bargaining, company or individual law principles with continued payment of the salary or a cash benefit equivalent in amount to the salary. Insofar as such legal options exist, these must be used as a matter of priority. This is the case, for example, if the parent or guardian still has time credits. This must be reduced as a matter of priority. If it is possible to work flexibly in terms of location and time (e.g. home office) and if this is reasonable, the employees must make use of this and thus look after their children themselves.

There is also no entitlement to compensation for loss of earnings insofar as the working hours of caregivers are reduced due to the order to work reduced hours, because caregivers who do not have to perform any work can look after their children themselves during this time. There is also no entitlement to compensation insofar as a closure of the schools would take place anyway during the school vacations established by state law.

As a precautionary measure, it is pointed out that an application made with the intentional provision of false or incomplete facts is to be considered fraud. The crime of fraud provides for a fine or even imprisonment for up to five years. Any case that becomes known will be reported and the benefit must be repaid.

Deadlines

The application must be submitted within a period of 24 months after the end of the ban on entry, segregation (isolation/quarantine) or closure.

Required documents

  • For employer applications:

    • Certificate either about the ban on entering, about the segregation (isolation/quarantine) of the child or about the closure of the school or care facility
    • Wage and salary statements for the month(s) in question and - if available - calculation/presentation of the loss of earnings compensation paid by the employer.
    • Only in case of a compensation period of up to 4 days and if a claim for continued payment of wages according to § 616 BGB (German Civil Code) has been covered by an employment contract / collective agreement: Employment contract or collective bargaining agreement to prove exclusion from § 616 BGB

  • In the case of applications from self-employed persons:

    • Certificate of either prohibition of entry, segregation (isolation/quarantine) of the child, or closure of the school or childcare facility
    • Current (last available) and complete income tax statement
    • If available: Certificate from tax advisor on monthly taxable net income (e.g., income surplus statement)
    • Proof of current social security contributions

  • The documents can be uploaded via the online procedure.

Forms

Online procedures

Links to more information

Status:17.03.2023

Responsible for editing:Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Gesundheit und Pflege

Contains machine translated content. Show the original content

  • Online transactions, Bavaria-wide
  • Online transactions, locally limited
  • Form, Bavaria-wide
  • Form, locally limited
  • Prefillable Form, Bavaria-wide
  • Legal bases, Bavaria-wide
  • Legal bases, locally limited
  • Fees, Bavaria-wide
  • Fees, locally limited
Bild zur Leistungsbeschreibung

Responsible for you

If you select a location under "Localization" the contact details of the responsible authority and, if applicable, locally valid information will be displayed.