Unemployment > Unemployment Benefit II > Household in Need

Household in Need, in Basic Living Security for Jobseekers

Definition, Explanation

The household-unit in need is a part of the formula determining basic living security benefit amounts for job seekers, i.e. unemployment benefit 2 and social money, refunds of rent and heating costs and possibly additional demands. Criterion for evaluating a household-unit in need is who lives together in a household and economically runs it together. The concept builds on the idea that persons with personal or family relationships should support one another in situations of need, to secure their common living. Therefore, for the calculation of unemployment benefit 2 and social money, the incomes and assets of all persons living in the household are taken into account. However, if job seekers or employment-incapable merely share living space with persons who have an income or assets, then those are not taken into account for calculating amounts of unemployment benefit 2 or social money.

Persons counted as one household-unit are:

• employment-capable persons in need of support
• cohabitant, or cohabitant spouse of the person in need of support
• partner of the person in need when the two live together in a way that they take responsibility for each other, same for homo-sexual partners
• unmarried, employment-capable children of the person in need or of the spouse / partner below the age of 25
• Parents, or partner of a parent of a minor-aged, unmarried employment-capable child

Persons not counted into a household-unit in need are:

• children having income or assets that secure their living
• minor- or full-aged children who already have a child, themselves
• married and adult children (from age 25), no matter whether they live with the parents or not
• (married) couples living permanently separated
• relatives and parents of the receivers of unemployment benefit II / social money, if they do not live in the same household
• persons sharing a living space who e.g. cook and shop separately and have separate furniture

Criteria for a household-unit in need are:

• persons have lived together for longer than 1 year
• persons have access to the other's assets
• any children are cared for within the household
• the burden of proof that it is no household-unit in need is carried by the person applying for unemployment benefit 2
• shared living space does not make a household-unit. Shared living space means that persons live in the same house, but do not really live together (e.g. subletting)

Every household-unit in need is assigned a household-unit number. A household-unit in need can be a single person.

Entailed by rating “household-unit in need”:

• The determining of benefit entitlements takes into account all members of the household-unit in need, not only the employment-capable person in need of support
• The rating “household-unit in need” can decrease benefit amounts, since income and assets of the household-unit are taken into account for the calculation
• Income and assets of a child are not taken into account if the person(s) in need of support is one or both of the parents
• Child allowance is counted as income of the child in need of support, not as income of the parent in need of support

Obligations:

• All members of a household-unit in need must try to diminish or to end their need of support
• All members of a household-unit in need must report their status of income and assets to the labour agency, ARGE or the municipality
• The costs of the accommodation must be adequate. What amount is considered adequate depends on the number of members of the household-unit in need. If the costs are considered not adequate, the authority can demand them to move to a cheaper house

Tips, Checklist

• As soon as possible, file your application for jobseekers' basic living security, e.g. unemployment benefit 2 or social money (for non-employment-capable), costs of accommodation and heating plus potential additional demands. The period having passed before the application are not compensated for in retrospect, even if need for support was given
• The application can be done in written, by telephone, or in a personal talk
• If you are not a member of a household-unit in need, e.g. if you are a child over the age of 25 and still living in the household of the parents who are in need of support, file your own application. In that case, you are a household-unit in need of your own. That applies as well in case you are aged below 25, but have a child of your own
• If you are below the age of 25, unmarried, job-seeking and want to move into a house of your own, you require the authority's consent
• Contradict “support-conjectures” by the authority if you are not a household-unit and do not financially support one another
• If necessary, take legal action – in many cases it is unclear how to rate the situation regarding the term of household-units in need and thus regarding the entitlement to unemployment benefit 2 or social money
• For a formal objection or complaint, check in how far you can file it on your own or together with other persons in your household-unit
• By no means, provide information about the incomes or assets of other persons in your household-unit
• Get written, statutory declarations of the members of the persons you live with that they do not want to support one another and thus do not form a household-unit
• Visits of field workers from the ARGE are to be announced with a date and with a reason for the inspection. Get a witness joining the visit and make a protocol

Last update: 12/16/2009