Hartz IV: judgment shortly before Christmas brings good news for parents

Created: 12/25/2021, 06:27 AM

A new judgment makes it clear that financial aspects must not stand in the way of further training, even for Hartz IV recipients.

© Jan Woitas / dpa

Further training should also be possible for parents with Hartz IV at no additional cost.

The Federal Social Court of Kassel has now decided with a groundbreaking judgment for a mother.

Kassel - Good news for Hartz IV * recipients: In the case of further professional development funded by the job center, the job center also has to pay for the food for the children under care.

That was decided by the Federal Social Court (BSG) in Kassel in a judgment announced on Wednesday.

(Az: B 14 AS 61/20 R)

Hartz IV: Job center has to pay the children's subsistence costs for further training

The complaint by a mother from Berlin was upheld.

From 2014 to 2016 she took part in a retraining course to become a clerk in healthcare, which was sponsored by the Job Center * Berlin Tempelhof-Schöneberg.

Her two children therefore had to stay in their daycare center until the early afternoon.

The mother initially paid 35 euros a month for food, and later 40 euros.

The mother did not have to pay anything for the care herself because of her unemployment.

The job center paid for course and travel costs, but refused to pay the children's meals.

As the BSG has now decided, the job center must also bear these costs.

The fact that food costs are already included in the standard requirement *, the so-called social allowance for children, does not stand in the way of this.

Hartz IV: Food costs are part of the care costs

The regulations of the employment promotion law are decisive here.

After that, the employment agency or, in this case, the job center would have to cover the costs of childcare * necessary because of the training.

The law does not differentiate between "care" and other costs.

Meals are therefore also included.

The BSG had not yet made a decision on further training for recipients of unemployment benefit I either.

Because the guidelines of the Federal Employment Agency also provide for the cost of meals for children in care, there is no dispute about it.