Berlin businesses are resisting the planned apprenticeship levy.

In Berlin, companies will soon be required to contribute to a training fund. Chambers of commerce and industry associations are opposed to this plan. Instead of an increase in apprenticeships, they fear more bureaucracy and hundreds of lawsuits.

With a "solidarity-based financing system," the Berlin CDU and SPD aim to motivate more companies to "significantly improve" their apprenticeship offerings. In July, the parliamentary groups of both parties, which form the government in the metropolis on the Spree River, introduced a draft bill to the House of Representatives. In it, they propose establishing an apprenticeship support fund in the state of Berlin.

"Companies are to pay a predetermined amount into a common fund, regardless of whether they provide training or not. From this fund, companies that do provide training are reimbursed for the costs of vocational training, in particular the training allowances," according to a page of the Senate Department for Labour regarding the Berlin training levy.

Resistance from the business community

The motion was debated in its first reading in the House of Representatives on October 9th. Shortly before, an alliance of Berlin businesses had addressed an open letter to the representatives. In it, the Berlin Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK), the Berlin Chamber of Skilled Crafts, the Berlin-Brandenburg business associations, and the German Startups Association appealed to the parliamentarians to stop the introduction of the apprenticeship levy.

The coalition partners justify their initiative by arguing that the law harms Berlin's economic standing and places an additional burden on companies during economically challenging times – without addressing the real problems in the apprenticeship market. In practice, this "completely pointless burden will lead to a massive increase in bureaucracy and hundreds of lawsuits from companies, as demonstrated by the apprenticeship compensation fund that has been in effect in Bremen since the beginning of the year ." According to Chamber of Commerce President Sebastian Stietzel, there are more than 330 lawsuits against the law there.

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Training levy in Bremen 

According to the Senate for Labor, Social Affairs, Youth and Integration, the Bremen Parliament passed the law on the vocational training support fund on March 23, 2023. The amount of the training levy is based on a percentage of the gross employee payroll (excluding special payments). The law stipulates a maximum value of up to 0,3 percent. In return, employers who provide training can receive up to €2.500 per trainee from the Bremen vocational training fund . Employers can be exempt from the contribution if their gross employee payroll is below a specified threshold (€135.000 for the reporting year 2024) or if they are already contributing to an industry-specific compensation fund (for example, for chimney sweeps or the construction trades ).

At the beginning of 2025, companies and organizations in the Hanseatic city of Bremen were required for the first time to submit their gross employee payroll and the number of their trainees to a digital reporting portal. The training levy is calculated by multiplying the gross employee payroll for 2024 by the rate set by the Senate for 2025 by legal decree. This rate is 0,27 percent. Companies providing training in Bremen receive €2.250 per trainee who has been employed by the company for at least four months as compensation.

"The payments are expected to be made in December," the Bremen Chamber of Skilled Crafts explained in response to our inquiry. It is not yet apparent whether the training levy will lead to an increase in apprenticeships. Once the fund is in place, the Chamber intends to ensure that the quality of the numerous established and often state-funded support programs offered by various institutions, including the Chamber of Skilled Crafts, is maintained and that existing successful models are continued.

Training levy in Bremen: In the online article " Bremen wants to introduce a training levy for all businesses " on handwerksblatt.de, we discuss the creation of the training support fund in the Hanseatic city. Further information is also available on the Bremen Chamber of Skilled Crafts' website.

So it goes on

Following the first reading on October 9, the Berlin House of Representatives referred motion 19/2552 to the relevant committees. According to Prof. Dr. Martin Pätzold, spokesperson for labor policy for the CDU parliamentary group, a joint hearing of the committees involved is scheduled for November 13. "After evaluating the expert opinions, the second reading of the draft law is expected to take place at the beginning of 2026," he explained, adding, however, that the parliamentary process will only be concluded "if the creation of at least 2.000 additional company-based apprenticeships by the end of the year, as agreed upon in the coalition agreement and the Alliance for Vocational Training, is not achieved." 

Should this fail and the law establishing a vocational training support fund be passed and promulgated, it is scheduled to come into effect at the beginning of 2027. As a first step, all employers would be required to report the total gross wages paid to their employees to the Berlin Vocational Training Fund. Companies that provide vocational training and wish to receive funding from the fund would have to report the number of their trainees to the Berlin Vocational Training Fund. The second phase would begin on January 1, 2028: The Berlin Vocational Training Fund would set the vocational training security levy for each employer. Companies that provide vocational training could then apply for an annual training cost reimbursement. 

Source: Berlin Senate Department for Labour, Social Affairs, Equality, Integration, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination/Berlin Chamber of Skilled Crafts/own research 

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