Thursday, August 26, 2021
Increase in January 2022
Hartz IV rates should increase slightly
At the beginning of the coming year, recipients of Hartz IV benefits should get a little more money. The plan still has to be coordinated in the federal government. The Children’s Fund complained that the increase was too low.
The recipients of Hartz-IV will get a little more money from the beginning of the coming year. The standard rate for single people is to increase by 3 to 449 euros per month in January next year. The amount for spouses and partners is also to be increased by three euros – to 404 euros. The German Children’s Fund criticized the planned increase as inadequate.
Adults who do not yet live in their own household will receive 360 euros from the beginning of next year – also three euros more than before. For children up to five years of age, the Hartz IV rate increases according to the plans by 2 to 285 euros. For 6 to 13 year olds there will soon be 311 euros per month. So far it was 309 euros. For 14 to 17-year-olds, on the other hand, it is planned to increase the monthly payments by 3 euros – to 376 euros.
The planned increases are still to be agreed within the federal government and then initiated by the cabinet. According to the information, 70 percent of the adjustments to the Hartz IV benefits are based on the price development for certain products and services and 30 percent on the development of wages.
190 million euros in costs
As a result of the Hartz IV increase, according to the portal “The Pioneer”, additional expenditure of 190 million euros per year is expected, 180 million of which went to the federal government and 10 million euros to the municipalities.
“A two to three euro increase in the standard rate for children in the Hartz IV relationship is a bad joke,” said the Federal Managing Director of the Children’s Fund, Holger Hofmann. “With these meager amounts, the child poverty rate in Germany cannot be reduced.” Every fifth child in Germany is affected by poverty. “This is a shame for one of the richest industrial nations in the world.”
Hofmann asked for a complete recalculation. The applicable standard needs had methodological weaknesses in the determination and kept the minimum social needs of children artificially low. The German Children’s Fund advocates the introduction of needs-based basic child benefits.
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