Social assistance; applying for assistance with living expenses

As a rule, you will receive assistance with living expenses as a social welfare benefit if you are in need of assistance and are not or no longer able to work and

• neither citizen's allowance (until 31.12.2022: basic income support for jobseekers "Hartz IV"),
• or basic income support in old age and in the event of reduced earning capacity.
  

Children under the age of 15 receive social assistance if they

• live together with people who receive assistance with living expenses (usually with their parents) and
• are unable to secure their livelihood despite being entitled to maintenance.
  

The benefits of assistance for living expenses include

• the flat-rate standard rate to ensure subsistence, for example for food, clothing or personal hygiene. If parents or a parent live together with their child or children in the same home, a separate standard rate is set for each family member. Since 01.01.2024, this amounts to:
  • Adults: EUR 563.00
  • Spouses, life partners, partners in a marriage-like relationship: EUR 506.00
  • Children under the age of 6: EUR 357.00
  • Children aged 6 to under 14 years: EUR 390.00
  • Adolescents aged 14 to under 18: EUR 471.00
• Education and participation benefits for children and young people, for example for
  • school trips,
  • personal school supplies,
  • school travel tickets,
  • supplementary learning support,
  • school lunches or
  • club fees, music lessons and the like.
• Needs for accommodation and heating in the amount of your actual rent and heating costs.
• In exceptional cases, assumption of debts to
  • avoid homelessness.
  • Securing your accommodation or
  • to remedy a comparable emergency situation, e.g. debts to the energy supplier.
• Needs for your health and long-term care insurance contributions and, under certain conditions, for your pension provision.
  

In addition to your standard rate, you can receive benefits for additional needs for living expenses. You can apply for these additional needs if you:

• Have reached your retirement age and meet the requirements for a severely disabled person's pass with the mark "G" (walking disability),
• have not yet reached retirement age but meet the requirements for a severely disabled person's pass with the "G" mark and are fully disabled under pension law,
• are an expectant mother from the 13th week of pregnancy,
• are a single parent,
• have reached the age of 15, are disabled and receive assistance for appropriate schooling or training as part of integration assistance in accordance with § 112 Para. 1 Sentence 1 SGB IX or
• are dependent on a special diet for medical reasons, which leads to higher costs than a "normal" diet.
  

Assistance with living expenses can also be granted in the case of residential care. The home costs (fees) are then covered in full or in part and an appropriate cash amount is granted for personal use as well as benefits for clothing.

One-off benefits can only be granted in 3 cases:

• for the initial furnishing of the home including household appliances
• for initial equipment with clothing and initial equipment for pregnancy and birth
• for the purchase and repair of orthopaedic shoes, for the repair of therapeutic devices and equipment and for the rental of therapeutic devices

The same conditions apply as for ongoing assistance with living expenses (current need, no possibility of self-help). One-off assistance can also be granted to people who do not receive ongoing assistance for living expenses.

If you do not live alone, the social welfare office will take into account the entire family income to determine your need for assistance. For this purpose, the income of all family members living together in the same home is taken into account, for example

• earned income,
• maintenance payments and
• pension income.
  

Child benefit paid for minors and any maintenance payments for a child are attributed to this child in order to cover their needs.

Certain assets are not considered to be protected assets, for example

• Smaller amounts of cash (financial assets per adult: EUR 10,000) or
• an appropriate owner-occupied property.

These are not included in the calculation of benefits.

Apart from a few exceptional cases, you will not receive benefits for past periods.

• You are in need of assistance and unable to work because you are temporarily fully incapacitated for work:
  • You are in need of assistance if you cannot fully cover your living expenses from your own resources and strength.
  • You are temporarily fully incapacitated for work if you are unable to work regularly for at least 3 hours a day under the usual conditions of the general labor market for the foreseeable future (more than 6 months).
• You will not receive any:
  • Citizen's allowance (until 31.12.2022: basic income support for jobseekers "Hartz IV"),
  • Basic income support in old age and in the event of reduced earning capacity or
  • Basic benefits for asylum seekers.

The responsible social welfare office will check whether you are entitled to assistance with living expenses. Those in need of assistance do not necessarily have to submit an application themselves. The social welfare office must also take action following information from third parties, e.g. family, neighbors, etc., that there are indications of a need for assistance with living expenses (principle of official investigation). Nevertheless, it is advisable to submit an application yourself.

• Arrange a consultation with your local social welfare office. Take all the necessary documents with you to this meeting.
• If possible, complete the application for assistance with living expenses during the consultation.
• The social welfare office must decide on your application and inform you of the result. This is done in the form of a decision, which is usually sent to you by letter.
• If your application is approved, you will receive a notice of approval; if it is rejected, you will receive a notice of rejection.
• In both cases, the notification contains the basis for the decision as well as information about the possibility of lodging an appeal.
• The approval notice must state the amount of the benefit to be paid as well as the start date of the payment. From the date stated, the social welfare office will transfer the money to your account at the beginning of the month. You can also specify a third party account for the transfer.
• Please note: You are obliged to inform your social welfare office immediately of any changes to your income, assets or personal circumstances.

Note: If you do not have an account, you will receive the benefits by payment order for offsetting. You must bear the resulting costs yourself. If you can prove that it is impossible for you to set up a bank account as required by law through no fault of your own, the social welfare office will cover the costs. Payment by cashier's check is not possible.

You must apply to the social welfare office for all one-off benefits before making the purchase.

Duty to cooperate

As an applicant and social welfare recipient, you have a duty to cooperate, i.e. among other things:

• You must declare everything relating to your income, assets and expenditure and any changes in this regard.
• At the request of the social welfare office, you must agree to other persons providing information (e.g. family members, banks, doctors, experts).
• At the request of the social welfare office, you must undergo medical and psychological examinations if existing certificates and notifications are not sufficient for a decision.

If the obligation to cooperate is not complied with, the social welfare office can refuse or withdraw benefits.

The deadlines set by the social welfare office for the submission of documents must be adhered to. If you are unable to do so for understandable reasons, you must apply for an extension of the deadline. Otherwise, the social welfare office may refuse to pay you benefits because you have failed to comply with your statutory obligations to cooperate.

Furthermore, there are appeal deadlines if you do not agree with the decision - not only with the rejection decision, but also with the approval decision (amount of the resulting benefit entitlement). These deadlines must be adhered to, as the decision becomes final after the objection period has expired.

The processing time depends on the individual case.

• Valid identity card or passport, confirmation of registration if applicable
• Proof of a temporary full reduction in earning capacity in the form of a pension certificate or medical certificates
• Proof of income
  

  for example, pension, sick pay, child benefit, maintenance payments or advance maintenance payments

• Proof of assets
  

  savings, for example

• Tenancy agreement and subsequent amendments, in particular with regard to the amount of rent
• Proof of expenses, in addition to the amount of rent and rent payment, especially advance payments and bills for ancillary costs and heating costs, documents on insurance premiums
• Proof of health and long-term care insurance, i.e. details of health insurance company and insurance status or contract for private health and long-term care insurance
• Note:
  

  The scope of the documents required, especially for proof of income and assets, depends on the individual case. Your local social welfare office may request further documents from you, for example current bank statements, divorce decrees or maintenance titles.

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