Christmas bonus for recipients of Hartz IV?
First bitter news - but hope is growing
Created: 12/27/2021, 05:14 AM
By: Patricia Huber
For Hartz IV recipients, Christmas is a great financial burden.
© Imago
Many employees receive a bonus at Christmas.
Hartz IV recipients are also hoping for a surcharge.
But the prospects for this are not too good.
Berlin - Christmas is approaching and the shopping stress begins.
But the gifts could cost even more this year than in previous years.
The chip crisis and the lack of raw materials have their consequences - everything is becoming more expensive.
The happier the employees who receive a Christmas bonus are.
It usually looks bad for Hartz IV * recipients.
You have to use your savings for Christmas gifts.
Hartz IV: Christmas bonus is the absolute exception
The Hartz IV standard rate * for a single person or a single parent is currently 446 euros.
In the coming year it will be another three euros more, i.e. 449 euros.
With this sum, a humane basic supply * should be possible.
But then putting something aside for gifts is difficult to do.
Until 2005, welfare recipients received a so-called Christmas allowance.
Since the Hartz IV reform, however, these have generally no longer existed.
Municipalities can, however, decide for themselves whether they want to give the recipients a financial support at Christmas time.
Last year, for example, the Upper Bavarian municipality of Burghausen paid a Christmas allowance * to its Hartz IV recipients, as
reported
against-hartz.de
.
Most of the recipients are left on their own to finance the celebrations.
Video: Hartz IV becomes citizen's money
Hartz IV: Left drums for Christmas bonus
After all, it's not just the gifts that tear a deep hole in the household budget. The Christmas tree and the sumptuous feast on Christmas Eve are anything but cheap. Therefore, the voices for a grant for the festival are getting louder and louder. As early as 2017, the left-wing politician Sabine Zimmermann demanded a Christmas bonus for Hartz IV recipients. "It is shameful and sad that millions of people cannot afford Christmas," she said.
Zimmermann's party colleague Katja Kipping also criticized the situation years ago. "Instead of appealing for more compassion and charity in its Christmas speeches, the federal government * could set a real example and make a tangible contribution to more social justice," she criticized
focus.de
. However, nothing has changed since then.
In the next year, however, there could be innovations for recipients.
The traffic light coalition would like to abolish Hartz IV * and replace it with a so-called citizen's money.
However, the SPD, Greens and FDP have not yet announced how the rates could change.
This year Hartz IV recipients will have to get by with the current rates and see for themselves how they can cover the costs for Christmas.
(ph) * Merkur.de and Kreiszeitung.de are offers from IPPEN.MEDIA.