Family allowance
Family allowance is a periodic monetary benefit paid out to help ease the financial burden of having one or more children. It includes child and education allowances. ETH Zurich pays benefits in addition to the statutory family allowance.
You can find information about personnel law relating to family allowances in the Download Personnel Ordinance (German) (PDF, 1.4 MB). Please find external page here additional information on the federal law on family allowances (German).
Family allowance can be claimed for:
- Natural or adopted children
- Stepchildren who live primarily in the home of the stepparent
- Foster children who were taken in without payment and for permanent care
- Siblings and grandchildren whom the person with an entitlement to claim is maintaining
Entitlement
There is an entitlement to family allowance from an income subject to AHV of at least CHF 7'560 per year (CHF 630 per month).
Order of priority for claims
An allowance can be claimed by only one person per child. If more than one person is eligible, the following order of entitlement applies:
- the person in gainful employment
- the person who is the child’s parent/guardian or was until the child reached the age of 18
- the person with whom the child predominantly lives or did live until the age of 18
- the person entitled to family allowance in the child’s canton of residence
- the person earning the higher AHV income from gainful employment
- the person earning the higher AHV income from self-employment
Child allowance
Child allowance is paid from the month of birth until the end of the month in which the child reaches the age of 16, or until the child is entitled to an education allowance.
Education allowance
Education allowance is paid for young people in post-compulsory education. It can be claimed from a minimum age of 15 until the age of 25. Post-compulsory education is any training or education that follows compulsory education.
A young person is considered to be in training or education if they are systematically (at least four weeks) and predominantly (at least 20 hours per week: school lessons, lectures, courses, preparation and follow-up work, self-study, thesis, distance learning, etc.) either preparing for a vocational qualification or acquiring a general qualification that serves as a basis for various professions.
In order to receive an education allowance, the earned income or the replacement income of the child must not exceed CHF 2'520 per month. The gross salary is decisive.
Children who leave Switzerland for educational purposes will be presumed to continue to be resident in Switzerland for a maximum of five years. This period begins at the earliest on reaching the age of 15.
If the other parent already receives family allowance from elsewhere, ETH will pay the difference at a level of employment of ≥ 50 %. In order for HR Operations to assess the claim for a possible top-up payment, it requires a Download written decision on supplementary family allowances from the partner’s employer (PDF, 94 KB) to complete the application process.
The scale of the allowances varies depending on the canton in which you work. Where your partner is the person entitled to claim, you can request that ETH Zurich makes up any difference.
Family allowance rates with workplace in the canton of Zurich, in CHF per months (12 times a year) as of 1 January 2025.
Employment on the basis of ≥ 50% working hours (amounts in CHF)
Employment on the basis of < 50% working hours (amounts in CHF)
Family allowance can also be claimed for children living abroad, if provided for under international agreements. This will depend on the nationality of the parents and the children’s country of residence.
Children living in the EU/EFTA area
Employees who are citizens of an EU country may receive family allowance for their children if they live in an EU country. Employees who are citizens of an EFTA country may receive family allowance for their children if they live in an EFTA country. HR Operations can check the entitlement to family allowance only if the parent living abroad has already registered the child with the relevant authority in the child’s country of residence and applied for family allowance. Please contact in this case beforehand HR Operations.
Children living outside the EU/EFTA area
Only in exceptional cases, family allowance can also be paid for children living abroad. Please contact HR Operations.
Family allowance is applied for exclusively via protected page ETHIS (Personal > Personal details > Application for family allowances). The completed form must be signed and sent to HR Operations (familienzulagen@ethz.ch) together with the required documents.
For efficient processing of a registration, prompt submission is strongly recommended. Family allowances are also paid retroactively.
Parents are obliged to report to HR Operations without delay any changes to their personal, financial or professional circumstances that could affect their claim to family allowances.
Examples of changes: Civil status changes, start of change of employment of the other parent, change of canton or country, termination and interruptions of any educations, changes of custody as well as changes of income, if the entitlement requirements are altered as a consequence.