Volt on families

Volt wants to scrap Ehegattensplitting (joint tax splitting for married couples) and give each parent an individual entitlement to seven months of Elterngeld (parental allowance). Care for children and people needing long-term care is to be expanded substantially. The aim is to bring more women, older people, and people with disabilities into work.

Volt wants to end a tax benefit for married couples. Each parent should get seven months of parental pay. There should be more care for children and for people who need help. This way more people can have a job.

The platform describes spousal tax splitting and the current parental allowance as disincentives to work. No one should have to take on unpaid care work for lack of care options. Self-employed parents are to receive parental protection. For older people and people with disabilities, Books VI and IX of the Social Code are to be reformed so they can access the job market on their own terms.

Volt wants to set uniform nationwide staff-to-child ratios and group sizes for early childhood education. This comes with digital allocation of places, language support and mixed teams, to give children equal opportunities and relieve parents.

Volt wants the same rules for all daycare centers in Germany. One staff member would look after only a few children. Groups would be small. A website would show free daycare places.

One staff member would care for at most three children under three or 7.5 older children; nursery groups would have no more than nine children and daycare groups no more than 15. A nationwide platform would allocate places and include private providers and childminders. For the pre-school year, Volt plans a nationwide curriculum with German as the school language and bilingual care. Shared rooms for childminders and coworking spaces with childcare for parents without a daycare place would be funded. Multi-professional teams, research daycare centers and education centers combining daycare, primary school and housing for older people round out the plan.

Volt wants to introduce eight weeks of paternity leave and a minimum parental leave of three months for each parent. The Elterngeld (parental allowance) would be calculated more simply, and single parents would get more child sick days, full child sickness pay and special protection against dismissal. The platform argues this promotes shared parenting and the economic equality of women.

Volt wants eight weeks of leave for fathers after a birth. Each parent should take at least three months of parental leave. The parental allowance should become simpler. Single parents should get more help. Their jobs should be better protected.

Paternity leave would fall in the weeks right after birth, and the minimum parental leave follows the Swedish model. The calculation of Elterngeld would be simplified, commissions would count as part of salary, and the part-time version of the allowance would become more attractive. Single parents would get 45 child sick days and child sickness pay equal to the full net pay they lose. They would also get special protection against dismissal, modeled on the protection for parents on parental leave.