Citizens' income replaced the previous Hartz IV system in January.
However, there are still legal loopholes in the reform.
Berlin – Citizens' income replaced the Hartz IV system at the beginning of the year.
There are not only numerous innovations for people who depend on social benefits.
Citizens’ allowance recipients also have to adjust to legal loopholes – this is what the association “gegen-hartz.de” points out.
From Hartz IV citizen money: address requirement deleted
For example, Hartz IV recipients have always had to provide a postal address.
That changed with the start of citizen income.
Because since January 1, recipients of citizen's income no longer have to provide a postal address.
The legislature had deleted the relevant passage from Book II of the Social Code.
“Nevertheless, benefit recipients must not ignore the post from the job center.
The obligation to cooperate applies,” emphasized the association “gegen-hartz.de”.
This means: The job center may not deny applicants who cannot show a postal address the citizen's income.
This is especially important to know for people who don't have their own apartment or are homeless.
If the beneficiaries miss appointments or deadlines, they can still receive sanctions or entitlements can be lost if they are not obliged to cooperate.
But those affected are not automatically excluded from benefits under SGB II if they cannot show a postal address, it said.
“Although accessibility by post is still necessary as part of the obligation to cooperate, it will no longer justify a claim until July 2023,” explains social law expert Harald Thomé.
From July 1st, however, a new accessibility regulation will apply.
Legal gaps in holiday jobs: Rigid income regulations
Another legal loophole concerns holiday jobs, which the association criticizes will probably no longer pay off in the future.
As Hartz IV recipients, students up to the age of 24 who had a holiday job could keep 2,400 euros for themselves.
This regulation has not existed since the introduction of citizen income.
Although students can earn an unlimited amount from July 1 without fear of being credited, rigid income regulations apply until then.
These state that the holiday jobbers have a monthly allowance of 100 euros.
If the income from holiday jobs is between 100 and 1,000 euros, 20 percent remain free of deductions, with more than 1,000 euros the student concerned has 10 percent.
As the association reports, there are apparently internal instructions in some job centers to apply the “lost” regulation anyway.