Caregivers receive certain additional benefits in the form of insurance due to their voluntary care activities. These include pension and accident insurance, but also unemployment insurance during a care period.
Pension and accident insurance
Depending on the amount of time spent caring, caring relatives are insured in the statutory pension insurance. Anyone who cares for another person and is not employed or is only employed up to 30 hours a week is insured there. The contributions are paid by the nursing care insurance. How high these contributions are depends on how severe the need for care is and how much time the caregiver therefore has to spend on the necessary care.
In addition, caregivers are protected by the statutory accident insurance during their caregiving activities. It is intended for accidents that may occur during the care activity in the home as well as in connection with it outside the home.
Care time and unemployment insurance
Caregivers who leave their jobs to care for a relative in need of care can take time off from work to do so – a so-called caregiver leave.
Since 2017, long-term care insurance has paid unemployment insurance contributions for the entire period of caregiving. If the return to employment after the end of the caregiving activity is not immediately successful, the caregivers can receive unemployment benefits and employment promotion benefits. These include, for example, further training or assistance with job placement. This is also valid for persons who interrupt the receipt of benefits from unemployment insurance for caregiving.
The following conditions must be met in order to be subject to compulsory insurance:
- The person in need of care must have at least care grade 2.
- The care is not exercised gainfully.
- The care is provided in a home environment for at least ten hours distributed regularly at least two days a week.
- Before the start of care must have been compulsory unemployment insurance or an entitlement to a current remuneration replacement benefit.
The care allowance is not counted against unemployment benefits, because the care allowance counts as earmarked income.
Who is considered a caregiver?
Important: A caregiver is anyone who cares for a person in need of care of care degree 1 to 5 in a non-professional capacity in his or her home environment.
A caregiver receives social security benefits only if he or she cares for one or more persons in need of care for at least ten hours a week and spread over at least two days a week on a regular basis.
No later than one month after the start of care, the volunteer caregiver must submit an application for social security benefits to the care insurance fund of the person receiving care. The care insurance fund then registers the caregiver with pension and accident insurance and pays the contributions.
