Cabinet decision on basic child welfare postponed

2023-09-13 17:40:43

Basic child welfare did not make it into the federal cabinet on Wednesday due to ongoing differences between the traffic light parties. “But the law is united,” said Lisa Paus (Greens) from the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs. It’s still a matter of legal and technical details. Two points were mentioned: on the one hand, children’s rights under the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act. According to the current plans, these are not covered by basic child welfare. This would temporarily worsen the situation for those receiving asylum benefits.

That’s why Hubertus Heil’s (SPD) Federal Ministry of Social Affairs initially pushed through the inclusion of a clause that was intended to prevent losses. However, Christian Lindner’s (FDP) Federal Ministry of Finance has objected to the inclusion of new entitlements in the basic child benefit, it is said. The passage was then deleted again. We now have to wait and see how the two ministries come to an agreement. The Family Ministry itself reportedly sees no need to regulate claims under the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act in basic child support. These are two separate laws.

According to reports, there is also a need for clarification regarding the plan to abolish the so-called child benefit transfer with the basic child benefit. This involves the offsetting of child benefit against the needs of parents who receive citizen’s benefit, provided that the child benefit is not needed or not completely needed to ensure the child’s minimum subsistence level.

Less bureaucracy for people receiving citizen benefit

This calculation should be deleted because it will lead to considerable bureaucratic effort that is disproportionate to the cost savings. Of the approximately 1.9 million children receiving community benefit, there are only around 20,000 potential cases in which the question of income recognition arises. The traffic light parties agree that the test for basic child welfare should be eliminated. But you still have to be sure whether this is possible.

Paus is aiming for a cabinet decision on basic child security in September. According to the ministry, the schedule for the Federal Council’s referral on November 24th can then be adhered to. According to reports, Paus wants to stick to the planned start date of the reform of January 1, 2025. The Federal Employment Agency (BA), which is supposed to implement basic child welfare, considers this target date to be “unrealistic”.

There had been negotiations between the traffic light parties until Tuesday night in order to approve the reform in the cabinet on time. The date of September 13th was mentioned in the draft law that was sent to the states and associations for comment at the end of August. Since then there have been various adjustments. However, the basic structure remains: the basic child security will consist of the income-independent child guarantee amount (today’s child benefit), the needs-based additional child allowance as well as benefits for education and participation.

Things will get better for some, worse for others

There should be financial improvements for some children from families with low or middle incomes. However, some families could also receive fewer benefits. Very few cases of single parents whose children receive very high maintenance from the other parent are affected.

A comment from Dietrich Creutzburg, Berlin Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 135 Katja Gelinsky, Berlin Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 31 Katja Gelinsky, Berlin Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 2

Basic child support should be a simple, unbureaucratic and citizen-oriented service, as Paus has always emphasized. To achieve this, the focus is primarily on digitalization and advice from the future family service contact points. However, all statements criticize that the reform project creates additional bureaucracy. Minister Paus’s programmatic motto of turning the citizens’ “obligation to collect” into the state’s “obligation to deliver” was temporarily removed from the draft law, but is now to be reinstated.