The traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP begins with the concrete calculations for the basic child security. This Tuesday evening, representatives of all six ministries responsible for the details of the new family support will meet for the first time.
These are the finance, justice, labour, education and construction ministries, as the lead family ministry announced on request. This “interministerial working group” will discuss the level and structure of the planned benefits.
In the coalition agreement, the governing parties promised to strengthen families and better protect children from the risks of poverty. Federal Minister for Family Affairs Anne Spiegel (Greens) announced nothing less than a “paradigm shift” with regard to child benefits and the like. “Basic child security is not a new label on old benefits,” the minister recently assured.
“Some of the 150 family policy services that are still located in different ministries today are bundled for basic child security. This is a complex project,” Spiegel explained on Tuesday before the start of the working group. “Basic child security should reach the children directly with as few bureaucratic hurdles as possible and fundamentally improve their chances.”
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According to the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, the basic child security should consist of two components: an income-independent guaranteed amount that is the same for all children and young people, and a graduated additional amount that depends on the parents’ income.
Children’s allowance comes after the citizen’s allowance
It is therefore planned that the working group will develop a concept for basic child security by the end of 2023. Countries, associations, clubs and foundations should also be heard.
However, it is already clear that the basic child security will not be introduced at the same time as the planned citizen benefit, which is to replace Hartz IV in the future. Because Federal Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) has already announced the start of citizen income for January 1, 2023.
Minister Spiegel said: “Among other things, we have to design interfaces to other services such as the new citizens’ allowance or student loans in such a way that the services mesh well.”
According to the Ministry for Family Affairs, the following financial benefits for children are to be bundled in the future:
- child benefit for all families
- Hartz IV benefits for children
- Parts of the education and participation package
- Child allowance for low-income families
After taking office, Minister Spiegel had criticized the “jungle of family policy achievements that no one can see through anymore”. The aim is “that the services can be used unbureaucratically, digitally and without having to run around with the authorities immediately after the birth”. Families should no longer have to submit an individual application for each benefit.
According to data from the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, one in five children and young people in Germany is at risk of poverty. 20.2 percent of those under the age of 18 live in households at risk of poverty. The benchmark for the risk of poverty is anyone who has to get by on less than 60 percent of the median income.
According to a current evaluation by the Prognos Institute, which is available to the Handelsblatt, the poverty risk of children from families in which no adult has an income from work is around 66 percent. A good 1.2 million children are affected.
If one parent has at least a part-time job, the risk of poverty is half as high, namely around 28 percent. If at least one parent is in full-time employment, the risk of poverty is even lower – in around 18 percent of all family households with underage children.
More work must be worthwhile
“There is a direct connection between the risk of poverty and labor market participation,” write the Prognos economic experts in the paper. They therefore recommend the further expansion of childcare and state support for the partnership-based distribution of tasks through parental leave and parental allowance.
However, “challenges” that have been known for years remain, for example the negative incentives of spouse splitting or in the social security system.
With regard to basic child security, the experts praise the planned combination of guaranteed and additional amounts. Otherwise there will be funding “with the watering can”.
It is correct that the additional contribution should be reduced as the parents’ income from their own gainful employment increases. However, it must be taken into account that the additional amount decreases more slowly than the earned income increases. “In this way it can be ensured that an increase in work and a higher income is worthwhile,” write the experts.
When it comes to basic child security, care must also be taken not to repeat the “constructive mistakes of the past”. The benefits should be just as well known and easy to obtain as child benefit.
The child supplement that already exists is often not used because the benefits are not understandable or the effort involved in applying for them is considered too high.
As a transitional arrangement until basic child security is introduced, the cabinet had already approved the so-called immediate surcharge for children and young people from poorer families in mid-March.
According to this, children and young people in families who are dependent on social benefits should receive 20 euros more per month from July. In total, around 2.9 million people will benefit from the surcharge – contrary to what was previously planned, around 200,000 children of asylum seekers are also to receive it. The children’s immediate bonus will cost around 750 million euros annually.
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