Leipzig’s hope of linking nursery fees to household income has failed at state level in Saxony. At the latest meeting of Leipzig’s city council, Mayor Burkhard Jung said other municipalities show no interest and there is no majority in the Saxon state parliament for the change, according to the Leipziger Internet Zeitung.
What happened
For some time, several groups on Leipzig’s Stadtrat (city council) have been holding back plans to raise the Elternbeiträge (parental contributions) charged by the city’s Kitas (Kindertagesstätten, daycare centres and nurseries). The Leipziger Internet Zeitung reports that this is a problem for the city, because rising Kita costs then fall directly on the municipal budget. The groups opposing the increase have repeatedly pointed to the possibility that the Freistaat (the Free State of Saxony) might allow income-based Kita fees.
In November 2025 the council passed a motion asking the Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor) to lobby Leipzig’s members of the Sächsischer Landtag (the Saxon state parliament) from all parties to take up the issue. He was also asked to report back to the council by the end of the first quarter of 2026. The motion argued that income-based fees are currently not possible in Saxony. As a result, families earning just above the threshold for the Leipzig-Pass (the city’s concession card for low-income residents) carry a heavy burden, while very high earners benefit from low fees. It also noted that Saxony’s state government has no parliamentary majority and needs opposition votes to pass laws, which it saw as giving Leipzig’s state MPs some leverage.
At the end of September, Thomas Kumbernuß (Die PARTEI), speaking for the Freie Fraktion council group, asked what had come of that mandate. He and Sven Morlok (FDP, Freie Fraktion) criticised the lack of a formal report on the talks.
According to the newspaper, the city gave two written answers. The first said Leipzig had raised the issue in the Sächsischer Städte- und Gemeindetag (SSG, the association of Saxon towns and municipalities). The city’s Beigeordnete (deputy mayor) for youth, schools and democracy put it on the agenda of the SSG’s committee for education, social affairs, culture and sport at a meeting in May. That answer also set out the state’s position: legal changes in 2019 already gave municipalities better ways to support low-income groups, and fee waivers and reductions for lower-income families already exist. The second answer described a panel discussion with Leipzig’s state MPs. It focused mainly on Kita investment and on how to develop the Kita system as birth rates fall.
Jung told the council that the other municipalities in the SSG are not interested and that Leipzig stands alone on the issue. He said he first raised it at state level in 2000, when he was the city’s head of youth services, and met the same lack of interest then. Juliane Nagel, a state MP and city councillor for Die Linke, confirmed there is no majority in the Landtag for income-based fees. Jung said the CDU plays the central role in blocking the idea and shows no willingness to consider it.
What it means for you
If you have a child in a Leipzig Kita or plan to enrol one, Kita fees will not be linked to your income any time soon. The Leipziger Internet Zeitung concludes that this kind of income-based scale will not happen for now.
The debate over raising Elternbeiträge in Leipzig is therefore likely to continue in the city council. The source does not give any new fee amounts or dates for changes.
If your household income is low, the state’s view, as reported by the city, is that fee waivers and reductions are already available for lower-income groups. It is worth checking whether you qualify for the Leipzig-Pass or for a fee reduction. The source does not give eligibility thresholds or application details, so ask the city or your Kita directly.
What to watch next
Jung promised the council another report on the issue. Municipalities are also pushing for the state to contribute more to Kita funding through a “Dynamisierung der Kita-Pauschale” (regular automatic increases to the state’s per-child Kita grant). A city report from June described this as unlikely given tight federal and state budgets. That report also said it was very unlikely the state would cover lost income if Kitas became free for parents. It noted that, according to the Kita cost report, parental contributions totalled around 345 million euros in 2024.
The newspaper expects the next debate on Kita fees in Leipzig’s city council to be closely watched.
Source: Leipziger Internet Zeitung
Sources
- Leipziger Internet Zeitung: Der Stadtrat tagte: Leipzigs Wunsch nach einkommensabhängigen Kita-Beiträgen scheitert auf Landesebene + Video, accessed 11 October 2026
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