In short and in plain language
Many people who need care live at home. Each month their care fund pays money for help in daily life. This money is called the relief amount.
For everyday helpers, the money is only paid if the state has approved their service. Approved means an office has checked the service. The service then gets a letter that says so.
So the website shows this at the top. It also shows the kinds of help, the towns and the price for one hour. A date shows how new the facts are.
The website also explains how the money flows. The family pays and gets the money back from the fund. Or the service gets it from the fund directly.
Money left from the old year is not lost right away. It can still be used until the end of June. The phone number is big at the top, because many people like to call.
Imagine a daughter looking for help for her mother on a November evening: 84 years old, care grade 2, living alone, two hours away by car. What she needs is someone who does the shopping once a week, takes care of the laundry and goes along to doctor visits. She has heard that the long-term care fund pays for this, and she suspects there is still money left from this year. What she does not know is which local service actually qualifies. The care fund reimburses help from an everyday help service out of the relief amount of up to 131 euros a month (§ 45b SGB XI) only if that service is recognized under state law. The statute puts it briefly: the services require recognition by the competent authority in accordance with state law (§ 45a SGB XI). For small everyday help services, this is where a website wins or loses inquiries. Within a few seconds it has to show that the service is recognized, what it does, where it operates, what an hour costs and how billing works. The readers are family members, often late in the evening, and older people who would rather call than fill in a form. This article shows which details belong on the site, which duties follow from recognition, how to show prices with a review date and why the remaining balance becomes a topic on the phone around the turn of the year. The examples on recognition come from Lower Saxony; in other German states the respective state regulation applies.
Key takeaways
- Everyday helpers can only bill through the relief amount of up to 131 euros a month (§ 45b SGB XI) if their service is recognized under state law (§ 45a SGB XI). Recognition therefore belongs on the home page, with the authority and a review date.
- In Lower Saxony, the State Office for Social Affairs, Youth and Family recognizes services run by businesses and associations, each time for at most five years (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen). In June 2025, 4,307 services were recognized there (Niedersächsische Staatskanzlei).
- Services, service area and hourly rates on the website must match the concept on which recognition is based. If the costs change, the details have to be updated (§ 45a SGB XI), and on the website with a date.
- The billing page explains two routes: families pay and submit the invoice to the care fund, or the amount is assigned to the service (gesund.bund.de). The receipt names the type of service (§ 45b SGB XI).
- Around the turn of the year many families ask about the remaining balance: unused amounts can be spent until 30 June of the following year (gesund.bund.de). A notice bar from November to June answers the question before the call.
- Phone first: at the end of 2023, 78 percent of people in need of care were 65 or older (Destatis). The phone number sits in large type at the top of every page, and the form asks only for name, callback number and a time window.
Who may bill through the relief amount
The relief amount is a benefit of German long-term care insurance for people who are cared for at home. The statute sets it at up to 131 euros a month and ties it to a purpose: it serves to relieve family caregivers and to support the independence of people in need of care in shaping their daily lives (§ 45b SGB XI). Expenses are reimbursed for four types of services: day or night care, short-term care, services of home care providers and services of everyday support offers recognized under state law (§ 45b SGB XI). This article is about the fourth group.
People with care grades 1 to 5 who are cared for at home are entitled to it, and statutory and private policyholders are treated the same (gesund.bund.de). The care statistics show how large this group is: in December 2023, 4.9 million people in need of care were looked after at home (Destatis). 3.1 million of them received only the care allowance and were mostly cared for by relatives (Destatis). These are exactly the families looking for relief that is not a nursing service: someone who shops, cleans, reads aloud or goes along to the doctor.
Care grade 1 is revealing. On top of those receiving the care allowance or home care services, a further 680,000 people in this grade were looked after at home; 40,000 of them received only relief services from state-recognized offers (Destatis). The remaining 640,000 used no services from nursing homes or home care providers in December 2023 (Destatis). Whether they received other help is not covered by the statistics. For a recognized service, the task is still clear: many families do not know the entitlement in detail or do not know where they can use it. A website that explains both in plain sentences answers the question that comes before every call.
The statute distinguishes three types of everyday support services, and one service may cover several of them (§ 45a SGB XI). For the website the distinction is useful because families do not search for sections of a law but for tasks. The table translates the three terms into sentences that can appear on a services page.
| Type under § 45a SGB XI | What it covers | How it can read on the website |
|---|---|---|
| Care and companionship services | Looking after people in need of care in groups or at home, in particular by volunteer helpers under the guidance of care professionals | "We keep you company, go for walks, play games and read aloud – by the hour in your own home." |
| Services relieving caregivers | Targeted relief and advice for family caregivers | "We advise you as a family caregiver and give you hours to yourself." |
| Services relieving everyday life | Help with the demands of daily life and the household, in particular with housekeeping | "We shop, clean, do the laundry and go with you to appointments." |
Just as important is what is not included. Personal care and medical treatment care are provided by licensed home care services. A recognized everyday helper says so on the site instead of leaving it open: a sentence like "No nursing care, no medication – your home care service handles that" saves calls that end with a no. How a home care service builds its site for families and applicants is covered in the article Website for a home care service.
Put the recognition at the top
"Can be billed to the care fund" is the information families look for. Costs are only reimbursed if the service is recognized under state law (gesund.bund.de). Each German state sets the requirements in its own regulation; the federal statute empowers the state governments to do so (§ 45a SGB XI). That is why recognition does not belong in the footer but in a recognition panel in the first screen of the home page. Five details make the panel complete:
- What is recognized: "everyday support service under § 45a SGB XI" – the term from the statute and from the notice, not a phrase of your own.
- By whom: the recognizing authority of your state. In Lower Saxony this is the State Office for Social Affairs, Youth and Family (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen).
- Since when and until when: in Lower Saxony, recognition is granted for at most five years (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen). The date of the notice and its term show that the information is current.
- Which services: the recognized types of service. Anything offered outside the recognition, such as garden work for private payers, is listed separately.
- Page review date: month and year of the last check, for example "As of 10/2026".
A look at Lower Saxony shows how many providers compete for the same families: as of 20 June 2025, 4,307 everyday support services were recognized there, including 399 commercial providers and 2,865 individuals working as volunteers (Niedersächsische Staatskanzlei). Since 15 October 2025, volunteer neighborhood helpers there no longer need formal recognition (vdek Niedersachsen). Legal entities, partnerships and sole proprietorships are still recognized by the state office, on a written or electronic application with supporting documents (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen). For a commercial service this is a difference the website can explain: a fixed contact person, cover during vacations and sickness, a qualified professional in the background.
The team also belongs on the site, because recognition depends on people. In Lower Saxony, the helpers deployed must have a relevant professional qualification or have completed training tailored to the service of at least 30 hours (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen). On top of that comes first aid training completed no more than five years earlier (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen), and the provider must have at least one qualified professional for guidance. A team page with first names, roles and the note "trained in line with state requirements" shows families who will ring their doorbell. Photos appear there only with the consent of the people shown.
Do not invent a quality seal
Services and service area in plain words
Families read the site with a concrete question: does the service do what my mother needs, and does it come out to us? Three cards on the home page answer the first part faster than a list of twenty services. The federal health portal names typical services such as help in the household with cleaning, laundry or shopping, accompaniment on activities outside the home, for example a visit or a trip to the cemetery, and care services that provide relief by the hour (gesund.bund.de).
Shopping and errands
Weekly groceries from a list, pharmacy, post office, bank. Add one sentence on how payment works – an advance, against a receipt or with the client's card – so nobody has to ask on the phone.
Accompaniment
Doctor visits, government offices, the hairdresser, the cemetery, a concert. If you drive your own car, say so and state the travel charge; if you accompany clients by bus or taxi, write that down too.
Housework
Vacuuming, bathroom and kitchen, laundry, changing beds. Next to it, a short limit, for example: no deep cleaning after a move and no work on a ladder.
The second part of the question is the service area. In Lower Saxony, the concept on which recognition is based includes details on the catchment area and the target group of the service (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen). The website names the same places as the concept, as a list of towns and districts rather than a circle around the office. If you work in several municipalities, check whether a separate page per town is worthwhile; the article One page per location weighs this up. The same principle applies to the Google Business Profile: a service area instead of a shop address if no customers come to your office.
The copy should use plain language: short sentences, one idea per sentence, technical terms explained. "Everyday support service" appears once, clearly, because care funds and authorities use the term; after that, simply say "everyday help". If you want support with the wording, our website copywriting service can help.
Hourly prices – with a review date and travel charge
Hardly any detail matters as much for everyday help as the price, and hardly any is as closely tied to recognition. The concept of a recognized service contains an overview of the services and of the costs charged to people in need of care; if these costs change, the details have to be updated (§ 45a SGB XI). In Lower Saxony, the concept explicitly states the hourly rates and the travel charge (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen). If a recognized provider wants to charge a different fee than stated in the procedure, it must notify the state office without delay (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen).
The prices do not stay with the state office either. It regularly passes the providers' contact details, the type, content and scope of the services and the fees charged to the state associations of the care funds (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen). From this, the state associations compile a list comparing services and prices, which they update once a quarter and publish on their own website (§ 7 SGB XI). Families who ask their care fund therefore see the price from your procedure. If the website shows a different one, it creates exactly the mistrust a small service cannot afford.
- Hourly rate for everyday help, split by type of service if needed, with the note "can be billed through the relief amount".
- Travel as a flat charge or a per-kilometer rate, together with the area it applies to.
- Minimum visit length, if there is one, and how started quarter hours are charged.
- Date: "Prices valid from 1 January, as of 10/2026" – so it is visible when the prices were last checked.
- Private payers: what an hour costs when no relief amount is left or a service lies outside the recognition.
Toward consumers, hourly and per-kilometer rates are a permitted form of price information where they are customary; they must then include all elements of the service including the proportionate VAT (§ 12 PAngV). For recognized services, VAT often does not apply at all: the German VAT act exempts services of institutions insofar as they are recognized under state law as everyday support services (§ 4 No. 16(g) UStG). Whether this covers each of your services is a question for your tax advisor, because work outside the recognition is not automatically included. How to switch the prices on a website when the tax situation changes is shown in the article on the small business threshold.
Federal law already sets a ceiling: the fee charged must not exceed the prices of comparable benefits in kind from licensed care facilities, and the states can lay down further details (§ 45b SGB XI). In Lower Saxony this is a condition for recognition (AnerkVO SGB XI Niedersachsen). A calculation bar on the website helps families plan: 131 euros divided by your hourly rate, travel included, gives the hours the monthly amount roughly covers (§ 45b SGB XI). Whether prices belong on a website at all is discussed for small businesses in general in the article Showing prices on your website; for recognized everyday help, the care funds' price comparison list already speaks for it.
Billing: two routes, step by step
The relief amount is not paid out like the care allowance. The entitlement arises without a prior application as soon as the conditions are met, and the fund reimburses costs on presentation of receipts (§ 45b SGB XI). Families have two routes: they pay the invoice themselves and submit it to the care fund, or the person in need of care assigns the relief amount to the provider, which then bills the fund directly (gesund.bund.de). The website shows both routes and says which one your service offers. This is how the process can read on the billing page:
- First conversation: you clarify needs, scope and dates on the phone or during a home visit. Care grade and care fund are asked for here, not in the web form.
- Agreement: services, frequency and price are put in writing, as is the billing route – payment with reimbursement or assignment.
- Visit and record: after each visit the client or a relative confirms the service record with a signature.
- Invoice: the receipt states clearly in connection with which of the four types of service the costs arose, for everyday help a service recognized under state law (§ 45b SGB XI).
- Reimbursement: the care fund reimburses up to the available budget; with an assignment, you bill the fund directly.
More than 131 euros a month is possible if the amount for benefits in kind is not used up by a home care service. People in need of care from care grade 2 can have expenses for recognized everyday support services reimbursed from this amount (§ 45a SGB XI), up to 40 percent of the maximum amount for home care benefits in kind per calendar month (§ 45a SGB XI). For care grade 2, that is up to 318.40 euros a month (gesund.bund.de). This conversion entitlement and the relief amount are used independently of each other (§ 45a SGB XI). On the billing page, two sentences and a referral to the care fund or care counseling, who calculate the individual case, are enough. That protects you from promises your service cannot keep.
A sample invoice explains more than a paragraph
Year end: explain the remaining balance
In November and December, the question on the phone changes. It is less often "Do you do this?" and more often "Will our money expire?". The answer is in the statute: the relief amount can be used within the calendar year, and whatever is not used up in one year can be carried over into the following half-year (§ 45b SGB XI). The health portal of the Federal Ministry of Health puts it in practical terms: the amount can be spent by 30 June of the following year at the latest (gesund.bund.de). For balances from 2026, that means until 30 June 2027.
Over a year, up to 1,572 euros add up (gesund.bund.de). Only the care fund knows how much of it is still open. The website therefore does not promise amounts but explains how families can ask for the balance. A narrow bar on the home page from November to June is enough: "Remaining relief amount? Unused amounts can be spent until 30 June of the following year. Call us and we will tell you which dates are free." If your schedule is fully booked until the end of the year, the bar says so just as clearly and names the first free date in January.
One bar, two periods
Phone first, short form
Whoever reads the site is usually older or looks after someone who is older. At the end of 2023, 78 percent of people in need of care were 65 or older, and about a third (34 percent) were at least 85 (Destatis). In the 65 to 74 age group, about 10 percent had never used the internet in 2025 (Destatis). The website therefore often reaches not the person in need of care but the daughter, the son or the neighbor. And anyone who looks for themselves is searching for the phone number, not the form.
That is why the phone number appears in large type at the top of every page, as a tappable phone link and with opening hours, for example "Mon to Fri 8 am to 4 pm, otherwise callback on the next working day". What else a website for older customers has to deliver, from font size to large buttons, is covered in the article Customers over 65.
The form stays short: name, callback number, a time window and a free text field. A required field "care grade" seems obvious but asks for health data, and for such data the General Data Protection Regulation requires a special legal basis, such as explicit consent (Art. 9 GDPR). Ask for the care grade in the conversation, not in the form. Why every additional field costs inquiries is shown in the article Contact form with fewer fields.
Mandatory details: legal notice, privacy, prices
In addition to recognition, the duties of every business website apply. The legal notice states name and address, for legal entities also the legal form and authorized representatives, details for fast electronic contact including an email address and, where applicable, the register and VAT identification number (§ 5 DDG). For activities that require official authorization, the statute also requires details of the competent supervisory authority (§ 5 DDG). Whether recognition under § 45a SGB XI falls under this is not answered explicitly by the wording. Naming the recognizing authority on the recognition page makes sense in any case; whether it also belongs in the legal notice is a question for legal advice if in doubt. What else belongs in the legal notice is summarized in the article Legal notice requirements.
| Detail | Where on the website | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Recognition with authority and date | Home page (recognition panel) and its own page | § 45a SGB XI and state regulation |
| Services and service area | Home page (three cards) and services page | Concept of the recognition |
| Hourly rate, travel, review date | Pricing page linked from the home page | § 45a SGB XI, § 12 PAngV |
| Billing routes and sample invoice | Billing page | § 45b SGB XI |
| Name, address, contact | Legal notice | § 5 DDG |
| Data processing in the form | Privacy policy | Art. 13 GDPR |
The privacy policy describes which data the form collects, for what purpose, on which legal basis and for how long it is stored (Art. 13 GDPR). The basics are covered in the article GDPR basics for a small website. For an everyday help service there is one more point: service records and billing documents containing health data do not belong in a customer portal on the website as long as nobody is responsible for securing it. Paper or a protected exchange with the care fund is usually the simpler route for small services.
Five steps to the website of an everyday help service
- Have the notice and concept at hand. Services, catchment area, hourly rates and travel are already set there. The website adopts them instead of inventing new wording.
- Build the home page: phone number in large type at the top, recognition panel with authority and review date, three service cards, one sentence on the service area.
- Create the pricing and billing page: hourly rate with review date, travel, both billing routes, a sample invoice and two sentences on the conversion entitlement.
- Add the mandatory pages: legal notice, privacy policy and a team page with roles and a note on training.
- Put the dates in your calendar: report every price change to the state office first, then change it on the website; switch the remaining balance bar on in November and off at the end of June.
A small website with a few subpages is enough to start: home page, services, prices and billing, team. Our packages show which scope fits, including later on, when a careers page for new helpers or further locations are added. The starter website is a one-pager: it gets the recognition panel, services and phone number online first and can be extended with subpages later. If you already have a site, start with the recognition panel and the phone number: both changes are quick and answer the first question families have.
The next step
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