Munich sets out support for unpaid carers but postpones counselling centre for staff

Munich City Council has set out how it supports people who combine work with unpaid care for children or relatives. The response came from Andreas Mickisch, head of the Personnel and Organisation Department. It also confirmed that a planned counselling centre for city employees with caring responsibilities has been postponed because of the current budget situation.

The response answers a motion dated 27 February 2026 from councillors Sabine Bär and Ulrike Grimm of the CSU with Freie Wähler group. They called on the city to press at local, state and federal level for greater recognition of care work, to support it structurally, to create better conditions for balancing family, care and work, and to expand support for family carers. The city noted that much of this unpaid work is still done by women, and that the Equal Care Munich alliance has organised events around Equal Care Day since 2024.

As an employer, the city said how families divide care work is a private decision, but it can create good conditions. A 2022 staff survey, "Equal Care and Career", found that 67 per cent of respondents considered the city's provision comprehensive and sufficient. Around 40 per cent said women mainly took on childcare, and around 50 per cent said the same of caring for relatives. Since 1 February 2024 the DV-Flex 2.0 service agreement has widened flexible working, with mobile working possible where duties allow. Staff who temporarily reduce full-time hours can return to full time afterwards, while part-time staff can increase their hours if capacity, workload and departmental budget allow.

Other measures have already been put in place. In December 2025 the Personnel and Organisation Department trained senior management on existing rules for staff with care duties, and a workshop was held with the employee network "Parents of Disabled Children". Diversity Day on 19 May 2026 took the motto "Bringing care and work together anew every day", and city-wide information on existing support for staff is planned.

For older people and their relatives, the Social Services Department offers advice, and further expansion is being pursued under the council resolutions "Perspectives for the Advisory Structure for Older People and Relatives in Munich" and "Care in Munich III". The city said its options for day and short-term care are currently limited because its investment funding is suspended for new applications. However, since June 2026 residential care homes have been able to offer overnight care places within their existing provision, with two such places initially planned in Munich. Long-term care insurance and pension recognition of care work are largely governed by federal law, which the city cannot decide on itself.

The Personnel and Organisation Department will report to the council in autumn 2027 on how the city's existing equality guidelines have been implemented. The report is intended to form the basis for updating those guidelines in 2028.