The federal government speaks of a “restart of family support”: There is an agreement on basic child security – after months of dispute. From 2025 onwards are noisy ARD Capital Studio Additional expenditure of 2.4 billion euros planned.
The traffic light coalition is planning additional expenditure of around 2.4 billion euros for basic child security from 2025. This emerges from a paper that the federal government agreed on last night and that ARD Capital Studio present.
The federal government speaks of a “restart of family support”. The various state financial aids would be bundled into a single subsidy. “All children and young people would benefit from the basic child security and be able to assert their claims without bureaucratic hurdles”.
The basic child security consists of an income-independent “child guarantee amount” (previously known as child benefit) and an age-related “child additional amount”, which depends on income. For this purpose, the previous child allowance should be further developed. Children whose parents receive citizen income or social assistance should also benefit.
“Need on reality of life adjusted”
However, expenditure is likely to continue to rise as a result, because the so-called socio-cultural subsistence level, which is decisive for the amount of citizen income, is also to be recalculated. “This means that the needs of children are adapted to the current reality of life,” the paper says. “As a result, the standard needs in the additional child allowance will increase.”
family service as a central platform
According to the paper, there should be a contact point for all child benefits in the future: the family service of the Federal Employment Agency. Regardless of the parents’ employment status, all children should be treated equally. In addition, a “basic child security check” should be developed. The aim is to be able to access various data in a protected manner in order to compare whether a family is entitled to the additional child allowance.
The agreement in the Chancellery on initially 2.4 billion euros was preceded by a months-long dispute between the Greens and the FDP in the coalition. So far, Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) only wanted to budget two billion euros for the coming financial year. Family Minister Lisa Paus (Greens) called for up to twelve billion euros and recently blocked a law by the Finance Minister on tax relief. In the morning she wants to present further details of the agreement with Lindner and Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD).
SPD leader Saskia Esken welcomed the agreement as “very good news”. “The basic child security is a milestone in the fight against child poverty in Germany,” said Esken of the “Rheinische Post”. Every fifth child in Germany lives in poverty or is threatened by it. These children lack many things that others take for granted.