The application process for child benefits will be streamlined. This should enable more families to get the benefits to which they are entitled.
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| German kids in a school |
In Germany, nearly every fifth kid is impoverished. Every fourth child under the age of 18 in Berlin lives in a home threatened by relative financial poverty. In Germany, 2.8 million children and young people rely on state subsidies to make ends meet, with 1.6 million of them doing so despite the fact that their parents are working. Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) has made it her goal to alter that: the existing child benefit should be phased out in 2025 and replaced with basic child security.
The Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has now published essential principles outlining how basic child security should be implemented in practice. The plans were forwarded to other ministries for review. The basic child security is designed to provide a "viable safety net for all families and their children," according to the draft given to the Tagesspiegel. In the future, basic child security will be the primary benefit for all children, and lower-income families will receive additional assistance.
Another focal focus of the initiative, which the report characterizes as "one of the federal government's fundamental family and social policy requirements in this legislative period": The application procedures will be streamlined in order to avoid eligible families from not obtaining the benefits to which they are entitled. Many individuals are unaware that they might profit from the 15-euro participation fee for the music school or the sports club.
Even with the kid supplement, many people have gone without. That should change: in the future, applications will be made through a computerized "child protection portal," and all data already available from various agencies will be accessible there. To attain these lofty ambitions, a large-scale digitalization attack will be necessary. According to reports, the expenses of the complete project have still to be agreed. However, the eight to ten billion euros claimed in the media are incorrect.
Every kid and adolescent should receive the same guarantee amount, which is presently 250 euros. Furthermore, a supplementary payment based on income should meet the subsistence threshold for children. When children reach the age of majority and leave home, they will get the promised amount straight in the future.
The Ministry of Family Affairs is also attempting to remove the jungle of prior benefits by combining them with basic child security. It is proposed to consolidate previously existing individual benefits such as child benefit, child supplement, and Social Security Code benefits for children, as well as portions of the education and participation package, into a single unit.
The Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband's general manager, Ulrich Schneider, has tempered expectations for fundamental kid security. The amount of the payment will be decided by the Federal Minister of Labor, Hubertus Heil, because the basic child security system must be adjusted to the other social benefits, he told Tagesspiegel. "And when you consider how terrible the current level of citizen income has been, you don't suspect anything positive for fundamental kid security."
The Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband's general manager, Ulrich Schneider, has tempered expectations for fundamental kid security. The amount of the payment will be decided by the Federal Minister of Labor, Hubertus Heil, because the basic child security system must be adjusted to the other social benefits, he told Tagesspiegel. "And when you consider how terrible the current level of citizen income has been, you don't suspect anything positive for fundamental kid security."
The opposition was likewise skeptical. Dietmar Bartsch, the leader of the Left parliamentary group, believes that the Ministry of Family Affairs' proposals fall short of the mark. According to Bartsch, basic child security must satisfy the initial demand in order to decisively battle child poverty and effect system transformation. With the paper, that is entirely open.
Heidi Reichinnek, the left's spokesperson for children and young people, challenges the inclusion of real housing prices for children in the publication. "Child poverty must be eradicated, not merely mitigated."
The traffic light's efforts are also insufficient for the Union. Furthermore, it remains to be seen what the federal administration will really provide to the Bundestag in terms of fundamental kid safety. "We need a true legislation on kid opportunities," CDU family policy spokesman Silvia Breher told Tagesspiegel. "We want to strengthen families, we want to bring families into work and encourage employment motivation. In any event, the proposed main topics document does not yet address our concerns."
The German social association praises the alleged simplifications that the "mammoth project" will offer. CEO Michaela Engelmeier also told Tagesspiegel that addressing child poverty effectively would necessitate a recalculation of the subsistence threshold.
The major ideas, according to Sönke Rix, deputy head of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, are a solid starting point for additional talks. "In the future, we will ensure that children can fulfill the demands they have," he vows. "Bureaucracy will no longer be the root of child poverty. At the same time, children and young people from low-income homes have the most to spare."
In March 2022, the interministerial working group on fundamental child security was established. The hat was held by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, and seven other ministries are engaged. The law is planned to go into effect in 2023.
Source: Tagesspiegel