German children starting school this year gain a legal right to all-day care

Under the federal Social Code, every child who enters Year 1 in the 2026/27 school year or later is entitled to eight hours of care on weekdays until the start of Year 5, a change that arrives as families settle into the new term.

Families moving to Germany with a child of primary-school age have gained a new entitlement this autumn. According to the Federal Ministry of Justice's official law collection, section 24 of Book VIII of the Social Code now gives every child who attends the first class in the 2026/2027 school year, or later, a legal right to support in a day-care facility from school entry until the start of the fifth class, for eight hours a day on working days.

School lessons and all-day school offers count towards those eight hours, and the Länder may permit a closure of up to four weeks in the school holidays. The right starts with the cohort that entered Year 1 in 2026/27 and grows year by year from there.

The rule extends a ladder of rights for younger children. Nationwide, every child from its first birthday until the age of three has a legal right to early childhood support in a day-care centre or with a childminder, and from age three until school entry a right to a place in a day-care facility. For babies under one there is no unconditional right; a place must be provided if the child's development needs it or if the parents work, look for work, are in education or training, or receive job-integration benefits.

How the entitlement is delivered depends on where you live, because childcare is organised by the Länder and the municipalities. Berlin is an example of a system already built around long days: after-school care at primary school, known as ergänzende Förderung und Betreuung, is free for Years 1 to 3 and granted for 7:30 to 16:00 without proof of need, according to the Berlin service portal. Parents apply to the youth office at least three months before the care is to start, and from Year 4 a new application and income-related fees apply.

Berlin also shows how early the school calendar reaches into a family's plans. Children born between 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021 are of compulsory school age from 1 August 2027, and they must be registered in person at the catchment-area primary school between 5 and 16 October 2026. There is no fee.

If your child started Year 1 this term, ask the school or the local youth office how the eight-hour entitlement is met in your Land. If you arrive with a child already in Year 2, the new right does not yet reach you, and the local rules that applied before still govern.

Sources: Federal Ministry of Justice, official law collection: Social Code Book VIII, section 24; Land Berlin service portal: after-school care at primary school and school registration for 2027/2028, read 24 September 2026.

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