Pension repayments: This is how parents will benefit from May 2025!

Pension repayments: This is how parents will benefit from May 2025!

From June 1, 2025, pensioners who have statutory health insurance and therefore also long-term care insurance are entitled to a refund of the amounts paid based on long-term care insurance contributions. This is the result of a retroactive correction that should have been effective since July 2023. However, technical delays have delayed the disbursement of refunds, as MDR reported.

The German Pension Insurance (DRV) has adjusted payments to health insurance companies until July 1, 2023 to take into account staggered contributions depending on the number of children under 25 years of age. Parents who have several children of this age in particular benefit from the repayment. The new contribution rates are to be calculated correctly from April 2025, with the DRV accessing information from the Federal Central Tax Office to determine the number of dependent children.

Repayment and Eligibility

The repayment is automatic and without application. Pensioners whose pension began before April 1, 2025 and who have at least one child under the age of 25 are particularly affected. The DRV has not yet published any exact repayment figures, but assumes that around 600,000 pension recipients will be affected.

The contribution rate for statutory nursing care insurance has been increased, and pensioners with two children under the age of 25 receive a contribution reduction of 0.25 percentage points. For three children the reduction is 0.5 percentage points and for four children it is 0.75 percentage points. Pensioners with five or more children can even receive a refund of 1.0 percentage points. This means that a pensioner with a monthly pension of 1,600 euros and three children could expect a repayment of around 8 euros per month, which amounts to a total of around 192 euros. The highest reimbursement for pensioners with five children could even be around 400 euros or more Pension notice24 supplemented.

Affected pensioners should expect to receive a written notification of the new contribution amount and reimbursement between April and June 2025. If no notice has been received by autumn 2025, we recommend contacting the pension fund to clarify your entitlement to repayment. However, future pension recipients who will receive their pension for the first time from April 1, 2025 will not be affected by the system change.