Vocational Training Boost: German Cabinet Lifts Subsidy Cap to €18,000, Yet Handwerksverband Seeks Further Reforms

Germany’s cabinet passes fifth AFBG amendment raising course fees to €18,000 and loan forgiveness to 60%. ZDH welcomes increases but criticizes high participant costs and bureaucracy.

The Zentralverband des Deutschen Handwerks (ZDH) gave a half-hearted welcome to the fifth amendment of the AFBG – Germany’s federal training assistance law – which the cabinet passed on 15 July 2026. While the association praised higher funding rates and an improved loan write-off, it warned that the financial burden on participants remains too heavy.

Under the new rules, the ceiling for course and examination fees jumps from €15,000 to €18,000. The grant for the “Meisterstück” – the practical master project – doubles to a maximum of €4,000. A crucial change: the share of the loan that is forgiven upon passing the exam rises from 50 to 60 per cent. Employer contributions will no longer be counted against the subsidy. Single parents can claim €160 per month per child for childcare. The reforms take effect on 1 August 2027.

Despite these increases, the ZDH complained that the required own contribution and the interest burden remain high. It also criticised that a second qualification at the same level remains ineligible for funding. The association urged the Bundestag to cut the red tape that applicants must navigate during the legislative process.

Alongside the AFBG changes, the government’s second deregulation cabinet – led by Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger – approved a sweeping package to cut bureaucracy. The administration estimates annual savings for the economy at €10.4 billion. Approximately 90 per cent of companies will be exempted from sustainability reporting obligations.

Private and public training providers are already adapting to the new policy landscape. On 16 July 2026, MORAVIA Akademie + Verlag GmbH released its 2026/2027 course catalogue, featuring seminars on artificial intelligence, the EU AI Act in construction, occupational safety, and load securing. Managing Director Inken Hallberg stressed the importance of practical qualifications for both businesses and public authorities.

In project management, BWI-Bau GmbH will launch a new certificate course on 3 December 2026 in Oberhausen, run jointly with Hochschule Ruhr West. Targeting construction-sector managers, the modules cover construction operations expertise and commercial controlling.

Beyond Germany, Austria began its “Digital Competence Offensive” (DKO) Economic Platform on 14 July 2026. Thirty companies offer 145 courses on digital skills, focusing on AI training and certifications based on the DigComp framework. In North Rhine-Westphalia, a long-running pilot scheme at vocational colleges has been turned into permanent regulations, embedding flexible teaching formats and blended learning at nine regional education centres. New specialist subjects such as game design and i-commerce are to be anchored more firmly in vocational education.

For technical niches, Eckert Schulen now offers qualifications for working on high-voltage systems – a response to more than two million electric vehicles on German roads. The measures underscore a trend toward highly specialised short-duration training in technology growth areas.