An January 1, the traffic light coalition’s new citizen’s allowance is to replace the much-criticized Hartz IV system – and open up a new era of humane social policy: In the future, this will “respect the dignity of the individual and promote better social participation,” according to the coalition agreement. But the chances of a successful start of this project are getting worse and worse. Because it threatens to overwhelm those who are supposed to implement it: the nationwide 407 job centers and their 60,000 employees. Calls for the reform to be postponed, at least in large part, are becoming louder and louder. The traffic light coalition is under pressure to make a decision.
For example, by the employee representatives: “In our view, the full introduction of citizen income on January 1, 2023 is completely unrealistic in terms of time,” Stephanie Rau from the Labor and Social Affairs Union (VBBA) in the Civil Servants’ Association recently warned. The suspension of sanctions against unwilling recipients of benefits and the care of Ukrainian refugees, which was decided by the traffic light in May, demanded “a lot of dedicated work and great commitment” from the colleagues.
The citizen income reform is now added, with new tasks and processes – which first of all requires comprehensive training of the staff. Only with the necessary preparation time will one “do justice to the political goal of achieving improvements for those entitled to benefits”. The time until January 1 is too short.
“This will not work”
Representatives of the municipalities, who are responsible for basic security in addition to the Federal Employment Agency (BA), also warn. “The job centers are already extremely burdened by the current crises,” emphasizes Reinhard Sager, President of the German District Association and District Administrator in the Ostholstein district. Politicians must be aware of this in the project. “Simply deciding on new requirements for the job centers without taking a closer look at their capacities and processes will not work,” he told the FAZ
However, Sager finds more money even more urgent than more time: “The job centers need additional funds, because their tasks will be expanded again with the citizen’s income,” he warns.
July instead of January
The Federal Agency had communicated its concerns to the Ministry of Labor shortly before the cabinet decision on the citizen’s allowance in September: Since the job centers are already at full capacity, “the BA is calling for the introduction of the citizen’s allowance on July 1, 2023”. This is not aimed at the planned increase in cash benefits by 12 percent as of January 1st, but at costly building blocks such as the new further training grant for the unemployed.
The draft law already provides for individual parts of the reform to start in April and July; but from the perspective of the BA, it should be the other way around: entry into force on July 1, and then see what can be done earlier.
Among other things, the following goals are associated with the citizen’s income: Employees should respond more individually to recipients of help; they should no longer approach those who want money from the state as officials, but “on an equal footing”. They should use new funding instruments in a knowledgeable manner and also react more openly to opposition to their funding and mediation proposals. And they should assess which repair costs for homes are “inevitable”. Because even real estate owners whose salary is falling should receive citizen income more easily. Not to forget: The reprogramming of the processing software must be completed in good time if the reform is not to have a bumpy start.
