With some six months remaining before the federal elections, the Social Democrat party (SPD) is making family policy one of its key national campaign points. On 03 April Families Minister Manuela Schwesig presented the SPD’s concept called ‘family working time’ (Familienarbeitzeit). The SPD is putting forward the idea of paying a family aid amount to couples over a two-year period who reduce their working time so as to look after children under the age of 8, or take care of dependents. The amount of aid would be €300 per month per couple (€150 per person). Conditional on the payment would be that both parents have to work between 26 and 36 hours per week. The measure is expected to cost €2.5 billion per year.
Towards a fairer distribution of family tasks. This SPD concept is not new, in 2014 Manuela Schwesig had already proposed financial support for parents looking to reduce their working time so as to look after their young children, but at the time was thwarted by Conservative Party opposition (c.f. article No. 8626). The Families Minister, also Vice-President of the SPD has relaunched this initiative, however this time round, and in response to demands by the SPD leader and Chancellor candidate
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