The governing coalition has passed a bill to extend the investment programme for all-day funding (BT-Drs. 21/216). Among other things, this is intended to give local authorities more time to drive forward the expansion of all-day childcare with further investment.

As children of primary school age will have a legal entitlement to all-day care from the 2026/27 school year, initially from Year 1 onwards, there is currently pressure to act, especially on the part of local authorities. To support this, the federal government has approved a special fund to subsidise the expansion. However, the requirements for drawing down these funds have so far stipulated that investment measures must be completed by the end of 2027 in order to be eligible for funding (Section 2 of the All-Day Financial Assistance Act). This has led to considerable uncertainty, meaning that the funds have only been utilised hesitantly to date. This is because it is not always possible to predict exactly whether a project can be completed by this date (see BT Drs. 21/216, p. 2, 6).

This is where the planned amendment to the law comes in: In future, it will be sufficient if measures are completed by 31 December 2029 and settlement is made by 30 June 2030. The deadline for dissolving the special fund will also be extended by two years, to 31 December 2030.

This also promotes the diversity of child and youth welfare services and school programmes available in the federal states and municipalities. 

The draft bill was discussed in the Bundestag on 22 May 2025 and has now been referred to the relevant committee for further consultation.