Mother's pension III: pension increase for families is coming - this is how you benefit!

Mother's pension III: pension increase for families is coming - this is how you benefit!

The Merz government, consisting of the Union and the SPD, decided on a comprehensive “immediate program” on May 28, 2025, which includes around 60 projects. The aim of this program is to facilitate investments and promote the economy. A central component of the program is a comprehensive pension reform, which aims for a guaranteed pension level of 48% of average income by 2031. The main innovations include the introduction of an active and early start pension as well as significant adjustments to the mother's pension.

The mother's pension came into force on January 1, 2014 and is paid out as a supplement to the statutory pension. The Mother's Pension II followed in 2019, which improved the recognition of child-rearing periods for children born before 1992. Parents can have up to 2.5 years of raising children credited for these children, while up to three years of raising children can be credited for children born after 1992. A mother's pension model that is still planned, called Mother's Pension III, is intended to increase the pension points for all parents to three per child, regardless of the year of birth.

Planned mother's pension III

The introduction of mother's pension III could take place from 2026, but is currently still in the planning phase. This reform is considered costly, with estimated additional costs of around 4.5 billion euros. The costs for crediting child-rearing periods currently amount to 25 billion euros and could rise to 27 billion euros by 2027. A solid financing strategy is a prerequisite for the implementation of the mother's pension III.

According to the German pension insurance, the statutory pension insurance should credit compulsory contributions for raising children in order to compensate for the limited employment of parents. The entitlement to a mother's pension applies to pension recipients whose calculations took into account child-rearing periods for children born before 1992. It is also important to mention that child-rearing periods can only be assigned to one parent, usually the mother.

Eligible people and further details

However, there are many people who may be eligible for the mother's pension, including fathers, same-sex parents, adoptive parents, foster parents, step-parents, as well as grandparents and other relatives. Fathers can receive a mother's pension if they have predominantly raised the child, and the parenting time can be retroactively transferred to them for up to a maximum of two months, provided both parents declare this in writing.

Despite the comprehensive measures and the planned reforms, current discussions about pensions and old-age security, in particular the expansion of the CDU/CSU and SPD's mother's pension, are still intense. However, the details and specific implementation plans for mothers' pension III remain unclear, and the German pension insurance does not provide any further information on this topic. Developments in this area will continue to require close monitoring.

You can find further information on the current issues surrounding the mother's pension and the reforms in the reports Mercury and the German pension insurance.