“We want to change the system with the guarantee and additional contribution so that every child is covered regardless of the parents’ income,” said the Greens politician to the editorial network Germany (RND) according to information from Monday. “The guarantee amount will certainly be around the child benefit amount.” This should rise to 250 euros in January.
The traffic light parties have agreed in their coalition agreement on basic child security. Previous financial support services are to be bundled in it. These include child benefit, social assistance payments for children, the child allowance and parts of the education and participation package. The basic child security should then consist of a fixed guaranteed amount that is paid for all children and a graduated additional amount that depends on the income of the parents.
The exact amount of the total basic child security will be determined later, said Paus. “In times of inflation and the energy crisis, however, it is not possible to make any predictions as to how high the basic child security must be when it is introduced in 2025. It is anchored in the coalition agreement that we will first wait for the calculation of the socio-cultural subsistence level.”
“At the beginning of next year I will present key points,” Paus told the newspapers of the Funke media group. The bill will follow after the summer break. The basic child security will then be paid out in 2025.”
In order to determine the need, a “basic child security check” will be introduced, explained Paus. Families whose income falls below a certain limit should be specifically addressed through the tax authorities. The application for the benefit should then be processed “conveniently online” via a portal, said the minister. “We don’t want families to have to chase after money.”
“Everyone should receive the benefits to which they are entitled in basic child security from one place,” Paus told the RND newspapers. “The payment should then be unbureaucratic, digital and almost automatic.”
Many have not received these so far because their parents either do not know about the benefits or the application process is so complicated that they do not even submit an application, said the minister. “It will be different with the basic child security.”
Paus rejected doubts about the feasibility of basic child security in view of the billions spent on relief packages and energy price brakes. The traffic light parties had committed themselves to this “important socio-political project” in the coalition agreement, she told the Funke newspapers. The Chancellor is “fully behind it”.