The government recently presented a draft bill to introduce a new period of further training. This is intended to replace the educational leave that will be abolished in March 2025 (blog post on educational leave) from the beginning of 2026.
The basic concept has not changed compared to educational leave: employees and employers can agree on a leave of absence of 2 months to 1 year for further training during this period. The employer does not pay any remuneration during this time, and the employee receives a further training allowance from the AMS. However, the planned further training period also brings important changes. Some important innovations from the draft are summarised below:
No legal entitlement to further training allowance
According to the draft, once an agreement on a period of further training has been reached with the employer, there is no legal entitlement to have the AMS approve a further training allowance. In future, the AMS will only have a limited budget of 150 million euro per year at its disposal. Previously, the costs for educational leave ranged from €400 million to €670 million per year.
According to the draft, the AMS will in future examine whether planned further training is sensible and promising in terms of labour market policy. This is to ensure that the available funds are used in a targeted manner.
Amount of further training allowance and employer contribution
The further training allowance is to amount to at least £1,212 per month. The upper limit is to be £2,038 per month, depending on previous income.
In future, employers are to contribute 15% to the further training allowance if the employee's wage or salary exceeds a certain threshold. This threshold is currently €3,255 gross. The draft also stipulates that such an additional payment may also be prescribed by the AMS in other cases, including for people on lower incomes.
Extent of further training
Further training must take up at least 20 hours per week. For people with care responsibilities, a minimum of 16 hours per week will apply. University students will in future have to provide evidence of exams worth 20 ECTS points per semester; previously, eight ECTS points were required.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the KWR employment law team.
