Hartz IV: More money for children
Created: 12/25/2021Updated: 12/25/2021, 12:11 PM
By: Alexander Eser-Ruperti
A new ruling by the Federal Social Court makes you sit up and take notice.
Separated children could in the future receive more Hartz IV benefits than previously envisaged under ALG II.
Kassel - The debate about Hartz IV has hardly died down due to the announcement of the traffic light to switch to citizen benefits in 2022.
The question is whether the basic income support enables recipients to lead a decent life * - this applies in particular to separated parents who have fallen into basic income support and their children.
A new ruling by the Federal Social Court on the subject of ALG II could soon provide some financial relief to children separated in this context.
Court: | Federal Social Court |
Seat: | kassel |
Subordinate to: | the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs |
Hartz IV: According to the judgment of the Federal Social Court on ALG II, more money for separation children
A new court ruling could bring progress for children separated in the context of ALG II: In the future, they can claim Hartz IV payments over and above the social allowance, as a ruling by the Federal Social Court of December 14, 2021 shows.
This is the verdict in a case in which two children and their mother sued the job center.
The lawsuit concerns reduced Hartz IV benefits from 2014.
During the period of the cuts in ALG II, the parents concerned lived separately in Dortmund and each received the basic security.
Meanwhile, the then eleven and fourteen-year-old children mostly lived with and with their mother, in a community of needs.
On the other hand, they spent every other weekend and half of the vacation with their father.
What is a community of need?
The Federal Employment Agency explains the term on its website as follows:
The legal term “community of need” plays an important role when receiving unemployment benefit II.
Although it contains the word “community”, the following applies: the applicant alone is referred to as a community of needs.
If he or she lives
with other people
and all assume
mutual responsibility for one another
, they together form the community of need.
The legal term is therefore usually applied to ...
-Spouses who are not permanently separated,
-registered same-sex partners who do not live permanently apart, or
-persons in a community of responsibility and responsibility ("marriage-like community").
The community of needs also includes children who live in the household and are
younger than 25 years
.
Prerequisite: You are unmarried, fit for work and cannot earn a living from your own income.
Children's income includes, for example, child benefit or maintenance payments.
The opposite applies: If an unmarried child who is at least 15 but not yet 25 years of age applies for benefits under SGB II,
the parents or parents living in the household
also belong to the benefit
community.
Hartz IV: Mother's benefits reduced by the amount in which the father's ALG II rose
As part of the so-called temporary community of need, the father received higher ALG II payments. These applied to the days on which the children had spent at least twelve hours with him. The Hartz IV payments that the father also received in this context were reduced by the same amount for the mother of the children. She and her children filed a lawsuit against this, referring to continued fixed costs such as clothing or electricity costs - unsuccessfully. Recently, gas and electricity prices rose dramatically *, and food prices rose too. *
The lawsuit before the Dortmund Social Court was dismissed, as was the subsequent appeal proceedings.
The State Social Court of North Rhine-Westphalia justified the decision with the fact that if the children regularly stay in two different so-called benefit communities, they are only entitled to standard needs for 30 days.
Hartz IV: Cuts were negotiated again before the Federal Social Court, but the case is not yet completely closed
But the case does not end at this point, because the hearing before the Federal Social Court followed.
This agreed with the mother - but only in part, because the other side was also at least partially in the right, according to the court.
The Hartz IV cuts found it fundamentally lawful, because each child would only be entitled to the full social allowance once for 30 days.
However, according to the court, the cuts were far too high - in the year in question they had been around 125 euros for both children in a holiday-free month.
Hartz IV: A new ruling by the Federal Social Court could now bring some financial relief for the children separated.
(Kreiszeitung.de-Montage) © Mohssen Assanimoghaddam / dpa / imago
The Federal Social Court recognized that there would be a higher need for separate access rights - this would have to be compensated by the job center.
It is this passage from which children separated could benefit in the future.
The BSG did not comment on the amount of the additional requirement - now the regional social court in Essen must determine the amount of the additional requirement to be granted.
Hartz IV: Slight increase in the standard rates of ALG II in the criticism
The new traffic light coalition under Chancellor Olaf Scholz * turns Hartz IV into what is known as Bürgergeld.
Most recently, the standard rates for ALG II were once again criticized: the cost of living is rising drastically, but the standard rates are not, at least by far not sufficient to meet basic needs.
The increase is three euros: A single household will receive 449 euros in the coming year - instead of 446. A study published by the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband showed that most of the respondents consider a basic security amount of around 800 euros * to be necessary. Large parts of politics are still a long way from meeting this demand.
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Most recently, the left had demanded an increase in the standard rates for inflation adjustment * and thus failed at the Bundestag.
Social associations such as the Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband agree: The rates are too low.
Kevin Kühnert also wants to renegotiate the standard rates. * The new judgment could bring at least a little financial relief for children separated under Hartz IV, to what extent is still pending.
What is certain is that the situation remains tense for everyone who receives basic security, even with the new ruling by the Federal Social Court. * Kreiszeitung.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
