How much am I entitled to?
Since 1 July 2025, respite care and short-term care together have €3,539 available per calendar year. § 42a SGB XI calls this the combined annual budget and it covers “respite care benefits under § 39 and short-term care benefits under § 42” – with no fixed split. You therefore decide yourself how much of it goes to which benefit. Older accounts that speak of two separate budgets and explain how to transfer money from one to the other describe the system as it stood before July 2025.
Does the full amount also apply if relatives step in?
No, and that is the most important caveat on this page. If relatives up to the second degree – parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren – or people from the same household take on the substitute care on a non-commercial basis, § 39 SGB XI limits the expenses to the “amount of the Pflegegeld applicable for the care grade … for up to two months”. For Pflegegrad 3, that means twice €599, not €3,539. Necessary additional costs – such as proven lost earnings or travel costs of the substitute carer – can be reimbursed on top of this, without exceeding the annual amount. If, on the other hand, a care service or an unrelated person is engaged, the full amount is available.
Do I have to have provided care for six months beforehand?
No. This qualifying care period used to be a requirement and is still mentioned in many guides, but it is no longer in the current text of § 39 SGB XI. You can therefore use respite care even if home care has only just begun. This matters particularly after a hospital stay, when a family suddenly finds itself providing care and reaches its limits within the first few weeks – previously, it had to hold out for six months before anything was even possible.
Do I have to prove the unavailability?
No. Proof – such as a sick note – is not required, and the reason may expressly simply be rest. You do not have to justify why you need a break, nor prove that you were away. In practice, an informal note stating the period of unavailability and who took over the care is enough. Prior approval is also not a requirement: the benefit can also be billed afterwards. It is nonetheless sensible to let the fund know beforehand – that way, it is clear which ceiling applies before the bill arrives.
Does this also work by the hour?
Yes, and for most families that is the more important way to use it. Respite care does not have to be a continuous absence: a regular free afternoon, being accompanied to your own doctor’s appointment, an evening out – all of this can be billed through it. It is precisely this small, recurring relief that carries family carers through the years, while the one week of holiday a year often never actually happens. Talk to your Pflegekasse about billing for hourly use; practice differs in detail between funds.
What happens to the Pflegegeld?
It continues to be paid at half the rate for the duration of the respite care. So you do not lose it, but receive half the amount in addition to respite care during this time. This worry – “if I get help, the Pflegegeld stops” – is one of the most common reasons families do not use the relief, and it is unfounded. With day care, it is even more favourable: it is granted under § 41 SGB XI “without this being offset against these entitlements”, so the Pflegegeld remains unreduced there.
What is the difference from short-term care?
The place and the occasion, not the money – since July 2025 both share the same annual amount. Respite care usually takes place at home: someone else takes over care in familiar surroundings because the carer is unavailable. Short-term care is a temporary stay at an inpatient facility, for example after a hospital stay or when home care is temporarily not possible. Both are limited to eight weeks per calendar year and both are funded from the combined annual budget of €3,539. You can combine them – what you spend on one is unavailable for the other.
Do I get respite care with Pflegegrad 1?
No. Respite care requires at least Pflegegrad 2, as does short-term care. With Pflegegrad 1, the Entlastungsbetrag of €131 a month is available to you instead, which can be used for support and relief services as well as for day care and short-term care – that still adds up to €1,572 over the year. If the condition has worsened, it is also worth submitting an application for a higher care grade: with Pflegegrad 2, Pflegegeld, respite care and short-term care all open up at once, and there is no waiting period for this.
