Calculation Method 2026: Care Grade, Benefits, Care Homes

Every amount sits in one parameter file read against the sources on 12 October 2026: Book XI of the Social Code (SGB XI) as last amended on 24 July 2026, the vdek care home tables of 1 January 2026 and 1 July 2026, and the German Pension Insurance reference values. Calculators and pages read only from that file, so a change shows up everywhere at once.

Tests that block every release

vdek tables: 170 values (national and every state, without supplement and after 15, 30, 50 and 75 percent, on both 2026 reference dates) recomputed from EEE, board and lodging and investment costs, with at most 2 euros of rounding difference because vdek publishes rounded averages.
Scoring system: every band boundary in Annex 2 to section 15 SGB XI, the maximum per module (15, 33, 65, 54, 15, 18 points), the grade thresholds 12.5 / 27.0 / 47.5 / 70.0 / 90.0 and the Annex 1 example of four measures a day.
Benefits: the combined benefit (40 percent services leave 60 percent allowance), the conversion cap, the split of the annual budget with the cap for relatives, half allowance for at most eight weeks, part months counted as 30 days.

Care grade

Each answer gives the item points of Annex 1: modules 1, 2 and 6 score 0 to 3 per item, module 3 scores 0, 1, 3 or 5 by frequency. In module 4 eating counts three times, drinking and toilet use twice, incontinence items only if incontinence is mostly or fully present or there is a catheter or stoma, and partial tube feeding scores 6 against 3 for full tube feeding. Module 5 converts measures to a daily rate (week divided by 7, month by 30). Each module total falls in one of five bands that are weighted: mobility 10 %, the higher of modules 2 and 3 15 %, self-care 40 %, illness and treatment 20 %, daily life 15 %. For children up to 18 months, item 4.K replaces module 4 and grades move up one step (section 15(7)).

Care at home

Allowance and services under sections 36 and 37, the combined benefit under section 38 with the conversion claim (section 45a(4), at most 40 % of the services budget) counted as services. Day and night care is a separate budget (section 41(3)). Relief amount of €131 at every grade, carried over until 30 June of the next year. Joint annual budget of €3,539 (section 42a), with non-professional cover by close relatives capped at twice the allowance plus documented costs.

Care homes

Co-payment = EEE (the uniform care co-payment of the home, including the training levy) minus the supplement, plus board and lodging, plus investment costs. The supplement is 15 %, 30 %, 50 %, 75 % of the EEE from month 1, 13, 25, 37; part months count (section 43c). Without your own figure the calculator uses the state average. Grade 1 gets no supplement and only €131; the home’s own grade 1 rate is not estimated. The savings run-down deducts the monthly gap between co-payment and pension until €10,000 of protected savings remain; personal allowance, insurance, clothing and co-payments are not included, so the real gap is larger.

Family carers

Contribution base under section 166(2) SGB VI as a share of the reference value of €3,955, from 18.9 to 100 percent by grade and benefit type, divided by the provisional average pay of €51,944, times the pension value of €42.52 from 1 July 2026. One year at grade 5 with allowance only gives 0.9137 points and €38.85 of monthly pension. Future pension increases are not included.

What the calculators cannot do

Replace the assessment: the Medical Service scores what it observes; special needs constellations (section 15(4)) are not modelled.
Private long-term care insurance, civil servant allowances (Beihilfe) and supplementary policies.
Decide social assistance for care: the welfare office checks income limits, personal allowance and housing costs.
State benefits other than the Bavarian state care allowance and references to care home housing allowances.
The draft Care Reorganisation Act: it is built in only once it is law.

Updates

Full review at least every 12 months, after each vdek release and every change to Book XI. Report errors to kontakt@pflegegradrechnen.de. See the editorial policy.

How we calculate