If a home has to be converted so that care can continue there, the Pflegekasse (long-term care insurance fund) pays a grant of up to 4.180 € per measure. Everyone who needs care receives the grant from Pflegegrad (care grade) 1 onwards – tenants too. Important: the application must be made and approved before the tradespeople start work.

Details

87 % of the people who need care in Berlin are looked after at home (Landespflegeplan Berlin 2025, p. 33). Often it is not the care that makes this impossible, but the flat: a bath that can no longer be climbed into, steps up to the front door, doorways too narrow for a walking frame. This is exactly what the “wohnumfeldverbessernde Maßnahmen” (measures that improve the home environment) under § 40 Absatz 4 SGB XI are for.

How high is the grant?

• Up to 4.180 € per measure (as at 2026; the amount was raised from 4.000 € on 1.1.2025).
• The grant applies per measure, not once in a lifetime: if the care situation changes significantly – because a walking frame becomes a wheelchair, for instance – you can apply again.
• If several people who need care live in one household, the amount rises to up to four times as much, that is a maximum of 16.720 € for the same measure. That is particularly important for shared care flats (Pflege-WGs).
• There is an entitlement from Pflegegrad 1.
• Depending on income, you may be asked to pay a share yourself; in most pensioner households it stays small or does not apply at all.

What is paid for?

A grant is given for whatever makes care at home possible, makes it easier or restores your independence – for example:

• a level-access shower instead of a bath, grab rails, a raised toilet, a shower seat
• widening doorways, removing thresholds, ramps
• a stairlift or platform lift
• converting the kitchen to worktops you can sit under
• permanently installed support systems, ceiling hoists
• adjustable lighting and orientation aids, for example with dementia
• in certain cases a move to a more suitable home – removal costs can also count as a measure

What is not covered are general redecoration, furniture or equipment that counts as a medical aid and is provided by the health insurance fund. Movable items such as a nursing bed or a bath lift are Hilfsmittel (aids) and come from a different pot.

Are you a tenant? This applies to you

Conversions are carried out in rented flats too – owning the property is not a requirement. You do, however, need the written consent of your landlord. Under the case law on § 554 BGB, tenants have a right to consent for barrier-free conversions where there is a legitimate interest; in return, the landlord may require the work to be reversed when you move out and may ask for a deposit to cover this. Settle this point in writing before you place any order.

Other pots of money that can be combined

• KfW grant “Altersgerecht Umbauen” (programme 455-B, provided funds are available) for reducing barriers – possible in addition to the Pflegekasse grant, but has to be applied for separately.
• Home emergency call system: a monthly subsidy of 25,50 € from the Pflegekasse for provision and connection to the emergency call centre, plus the one-off connection costs (as at 2026).
• Consumable care aids: 42 € a month (e.g. gloves, bed protection pads, disinfectant), the same whatever the Pflegegrad, from Pflegegrad 1 onwards.
• If your income is low: supplementary help through the Sozialamt (social welfare office) – Hilfe zur Pflege (means-tested help with care costs), SGB XII.

What to do?

1. Describe the need, not the products. Write down what no longer works in everyday life (“getting into the bath is impossible, risk of falling”). For the fund, that is the decisive justification.
2. Get a cost estimate – one quote is usually enough, two are better.
3. Make an informal application to the Pflegekasse (it sits within your health insurance fund), with the description of the need, the cost estimate and – if you rent – your landlord’s consent. One sentence is enough: „Ich beantrage einen Zuschuss zu wohnumfeldverbessernden Maßnahmen nach § 40 Abs. 4 SGB XI.“ (“I apply for a grant towards measures that improve the home environment under § 40 Abs. 4 SGB XI.”)
4. Wait for approval. Only start the conversion work after that. Anyone who starts earlier loses the entitlement – that is the most common mistake.
5. Submit the invoice and keep the proof of payment.
6. If it is refused: appeal within one month, in writing and with reasons – ideally with a statement from the care service or the housing advice service.
7. Report changes again later: if the situation deteriorates, a new grant for a new measure is possible.

Where can you get help?

• Pflegestützpunkte (care support points) give free advice on the application and go through the home with you. There are 36 locations in Berlin and regional Pflegestützpunkte in Brandenburg. Find an advice centre.
• Specialist housing advice: several Berlin districts offer home adaptation advice; the social association VdK Berlin-Brandenburg also runs a free advice centre for technical aids and home adaptation. In the directory you will find these services under the service type “Wohnraumanpassung & Hilfsmittel”: go to the directory.
• Demonstrations and information events on aids and barrier-free conversion: See dates.

All amounts of money: as at 30.07.2026. Legal basis: § 40 Abs. 4 SGB XI; grant of 4.180 € since 1.1.2025, unchanged for 2026.