Vanessa Ahuja, Director of Family Benefits

“For child benefit and child supplement, the BA’s Family Benefits Office offers a uniform, reliable and digital service from a single source throughout Germany. We make use of the advantages of a uniform organisational structure throughout Germany and invest in automation. From the middle of the year, we will automatically determine the first child benefit cases. We are thus making an important contribution to a modern and efficient welfare state," she said, referring to digital administration as debated, for example, in the Welfare State Commission.

The Family Benefits Fund in 2025 in figures

In 2025, the BA's Family Benefits Office paid child benefit for 17.57 million children. 1.45 million children benefited from the child supplement for families with low and medium incomes. Families whose income is sufficient to cover the parents' living expenses but not those of the entire family may be entitled to child benefit. 

The Family Benefits Office paid out a total of €55.32 billion in child benefit, around €800 million more than a year ago. A further €3.28 billion was spent on child allowances, which is around €300 million more than in 2024.

Outlook: More digitalisation and automation

The Family Benefits Office will continue to promote the expansion of online services and digitalisation. From the middle of the year, child benefit will be determined automatically for the first cases. This procedure is designed as a preliminary stage to child benefit without application and gradually reduces the effort involved for all parties.

Online usage on the rise

The expansion of the Family Benefits Office's digital services has been well received by customers. More than half of them now apply for benefits digitally. Around 60 per cent of child benefit applications are submitted online, as are 45 per cent of child allowance applications. Around 300,000 people use the KiZ-Lotsen every month to determine their potential entitlement to the child supplement. Around 1.57 million applications for child benefit and child allowance were submitted digitally.

The figures for child benefit and child allowance are published in the BA statistics portal (available in German).