The Left calls for state-financed household help for single parents

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Six-point plan
The Left calls for state-financed household help for single parents

Single parents are particularly often at risk of poverty. The Left wants to present measures on Monday to improve the situation of those affected. The suggestions are that star before.

The Left accuses the traffic light government of not doing enough for single parents. Party leader Janine Wissler wants to present several measures on Monday that could improve the situation of those affected and their children. In the “six-point plan” that… star is available, among other things, state-financed household help for working people Single parents, an expansion of daycare places and free lunch at school for all children are called for.

“Single parents do a lot every day, but they have no lobby,” Wissler told dem star. “That’s why the federal government has no plans to provide them with better support and relief.” Many single parents are “trapped in a system” that does not allow them to work full-time – due to a lack of daycare places and all-day care. “Women in particular are stuck in the part-time trap because their children cannot be looked after full-time.”

Around 1.6 million single parents with underage children live in Germany. Compared to other household types, they are significantly more likely to be at risk of poverty – in 2022 it was 42.9 percent. This particularly affects women, as the majority of single parents are still mothers.

Single parents should be relieved

In order to improve the situation of single parents, the Left is calling for, among other things, a “real daycare place guarantee”. Although there has been a legal right to a daycare place for more than ten years, in practice there is often a lack of available places.

The left therefore warns you Expansion of daycare places and all-day offers with opening times tailored to needs, “better information about free daycare places”, an abolition of daycare fees (where they are still charged) and more federal funding to relieve the burden on municipalities and states. This is necessary because more than one in four families with a single parent do not have a daycare place despite the need, the paper says. Children are denied access to early childhood education and many women are denied access to the labor market.

The paper also criticizes the traffic light plan Basic child protection, which, in the left’s opinion, puts single parents in a worse position. The plans from Federal Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) stipulate that the so-called maintenance advance will only be counted as income at 45 percent in the future, instead of 100 percent as before. However, there is one condition: As soon as children reach school age, single parents only benefit from the lower credit if they earn at least 600 euros per month. This means that gainful employment should be rewarded more.

The Left is calling for that to change – and warns: With the current plans, it could be that children of single parents receive less money, “even though their need for food, school supplies and clothing is just as high as that of children from two-parent families. ” The left as a whole also wants that Expand maintenance advance and demands, among other things, that this no longer be counted towards the citizen’s allowance.

Higher pensions for single parents

The Left wants another package of measures higher pensions for single parents to reach. Mini-jobs should be converted into employment subject to social insurance (“social insurance protection from the first euro”), a return from part-time to the original scope of work should be guaranteed and the minimum wage should be raised to 15 euros. Three years of child-rearing time should also be recognized in the pension for all mothers, regardless of the child’s year of birth. So far this only applies to children born after 1992. For previous years, only 30 months of parenting time will be counted towards the pension.

Last but not least, the left advocates free lunch at school for all children. “Single parents in particular would benefit financially and in terms of time,” the paper says. Schools should also provide learning and teaching materials free of charge. “Many single parents hardly know how to manage the high expenses at the beginning of the school year for notebooks, fountain pens, compasses and watercolors, plus book purchases, copying flat rates and costs for craft materials during the school year.”

Relief through household help

As a sixth point, the party is calling for time off for single parents. They “often suffered from time pressure, professional and personal stress and social isolation.” In addition, “single parents are often the only close caregiver for the child and can hardly take time off.” Currently, single parents can only apply for household help if they are seriously ill or after treatment in hospital.

The Left wants to expand this: They demand “that working single parents with school-age children receive full or partial income up to a certain income limit Financing a household help The paper does not specify where this income limit should be. For this purpose, non-profit agencies should be set up “to guarantee employment subject to social security contributions and compliance with collective agreements.” How the plans as a whole could be financed , this is not discussed in the paper.