Long-term care insurance reform: What employers and employees can expect from 2027 onwards

The government’s draft bill on the Care Reform Act (PNOG) of 30 Sep­tem­ber 2026 pro­vi­des for signi­fi­cant chan­ges to social care insu­rance con­tri­bu­ti­ons. The plan­ned chan­ges affect both employees and employ­ers and could have a direct impact on month­ly pays­lips in many organisations.

Higher contribution assessment ceiling from January 2027

The con­tri­bu­ti­on assess­ment cei­ling for long-term care insu­rance remains lin­ked to that of sta­tu­to­ry health insu­rance. Under the Sta­tu­to­ry Health Insu­rance Con­tri­bu­ti­on Rate Sta­bi­li­sa­ti­on Act, which has alre­a­dy been pas­sed, this cei­ling will rise to 6,375 euros per month from 1 Janu­ary 2027. For employees who­se sala­ry exceeds this cei­ling, this means an increase in the total month­ly con­tri­bu­ti­on – com­pri­sing both the employer’s and the employee’s share – of more than 20 euros in total.

Childless allowance to be increased

Peo­p­le wit­hout child­ren alre­a­dy pay a surchar­ge on their long-term care insu­rance con­tri­bu­ti­ons. This is set to rise from the cur­rent 0.6 per cent to 0.9 per cent. The surchar­ge is bor­ne exclu­si­ve­ly by the employees con­cer­ned; employ­ers do not con­tri­bu­te towards it.

Insuring spouses will become more expensive

Until now, spou­ses and regis­tered civil part­ners have been able to be cover­ed under fami­ly insu­rance wit­hout pay­ing con­tri­bu­ti­ons, sub­ject to cer­tain con­di­ti­ons. The Sta­tu­to­ry Health Insu­rance Sta­bi­li­sa­ti­on Act has alre­a­dy intro­du­ced a 2.5 per cent con­tri­bu­ti­on surchar­ge for health insu­rance if cer­tain inco­me thres­holds are excee­ded. The PNOG draft builds on this: if such a surchar­ge appli­es under health insu­rance, an addi­tio­nal con­tri­bu­ti­on of 0.52 per­cen­ta­ge points will also be levied under long-term care insurance.

Mini-jobs: New flat-rate contribution towards long-term care insurance

Until now, employ­ers of peo­p­le in mini-jobs have only been obli­ged to pay flat-rate con­tri­bu­ti­ons towards health and pen­si­on insu­rance. This is set to chan­ge. In future, mini-job­bers cover­ed by sta­tu­to­ry health insu­rance will also be requi­red to pay a flat-rate con­tri­bu­ti­on towards long-term care insu­rance. The con­tri­bu­ti­on rate cor­re­sponds to the stan­dard rate, curr­ent­ly 3.6 per cent; a redu­ced rate of 1.5 per cent is envi­sa­ged for employees working in pri­va­te house­holds. The­se cos­ts, too, are bor­ne sole­ly by the employ­er. The­re is no child­less sup­ple­ment or reduc­tion for tho­se with seve­ral child­ren in this area. Com­pared with the ori­gi­nal draft bill, the intro­duc­tion of this pro­vi­si­on has been post­po­ned from 2027 to 2028.

What does this mean in practice?

Com­pa­nies employ­ing peo­p­le in mini-jobs, employees wit­hout child­ren or spou­ses cover­ed by fami­ly insu­rance should clo­se­ly moni­tor the pro­gress of the legis­la­ti­ve pro­cess. The chan­ges will have a direct impact on non-wage labour cos­ts and will requi­re time­ly adjus­t­ments to pay­roll accoun­ting. Anyo­ne wis­hing to find out in advan­ce what spe­ci­fic addi­tio­nal cos­ts their busi­ness will face should seek advice from a tax advi­ser or a soli­ci­tor spe­cia­li­sing in employ­ment law.