2026 reform of basic income support for jobseekers: from Bürgergeld to Grundsicherungsgeld

Rebalance « solidarity and personal responsibility » in basic income support: bring people durably into work by giving priority to placement, make cooperation with jobcentres more binding and enforce it with stronger reductions, target cash benefits at people actually in need (assets, housing costs) and fight benefit fraud. The government expects modest net savings in 2026-2027.[2][6][8]

According to the federal government (bill of December 2025; Ministry of Labour)

• Net change in public spending (Federation, Länder, municipalities, Federal Employment Agency)

  €-0.09bn

  2026 · according to the government bill (budget impact excluding compliance costs)[2]

  −€70m in 2027, then +€11m in 2028 and +€9m in 2029 (higher spending by the Federal Employment Agency).

• Yearly savings if 100,000 fewer people received standard benefits

  €0.85bn

  per year, based on average entitlements in June 2025 · according to the government bill, a scenario conditional on an economic upturn[2]

  About €100m of it for municipalities, the rest for the Federation.

• The cash benefit « Bürgergeld » is renamed « Grundsicherungsgeld » and Book II of the Social Code becomes « Grundsicherung für Arbeitsuchende »; authorities may keep using the old term until 31 December 2026. The standard rate is unchanged: €563 a month for a single adult in 2026.[1][6][9]
• Placement in training or work takes priority over other support (new § 3a); training remains possible when it is more promising for lasting integration, especially for people under 30. Recipients able to work must use their labour capacity to the extent needed to end their need, including full-time work where necessary and reasonable.[1][7]
• The first interview for the skills assessment and the cooperation plan takes place in person at the jobcentre; the plan includes a personal offer of advice, support or placement. A person who misses an appointment without good reason, or does not carry out the steps of the plan, can be bound by an administrative act; the conciliation procedure is abolished.[1][7]
• A breach of duties (no proof of job-search efforts, refusing reasonable work, training or a measure) now reduces the standard rate by 30% for three months, instead of 10%, 20% and 30% for one, two and three months for the first, second and third breach under the previous rules. The reduction is lifted as soon as the person complies or seriously undertakes to do so.[1][7]
• Missed appointments: no reduction for the first one; from the second, 30% of the standard rate for one month (previously 10%). After three consecutive missed appointments, the person is deemed unreachable and loses the entitlement, including housing costs; in the first month only the standard rate is withheld, and showing up in person at the jobcentre within that month restores the entitlement.[1][7]
• Refusing a concrete, immediately available and reasonable job now removes the whole standard rate for at least one month and at most two, without a prior breach being required; rent is then paid directly to the landlord. In force since 23 April 2026.[1][7]
• Safeguards: a personal hearing when the jobcentre knows of a mental illness, and before a third consecutive missed appointment is established; possible medical or psychological examination; no reduction in cases of exceptional hardship; only the standard rate of the person concerned is reduced, not that of children; a nominal benefit of €1 a month is paid where a reduction alone would leave no entitlement.[1][7]
• Savings: the one-year grace period is abolished. Protected assets now depend on age, per person: €5,000 up to 30, €10,000 from 31, €12,500 from 41 and €20,000 from 51. Under the previous rules, only « significant » assets counted in the first year (above €40,000 for the first person and €15,000 for each other), then €15,000 per person.[1][7]
• Housing: the one-year grace period on rents is kept, but costs are capped from the first day at 1.5 times the local adequacy limit (higher costs can be accepted when unavoidable or for households with children). Rents breaching a local rent cap (Mietpreisbremse) must be challenged, and municipal bodies may set a maximum rent per square metre.[1][7][12]
• Parents: work, training or a language course becomes reasonable once the child has completed its 14th month (instead of its third year), provided childcare is secured.[1][7]
• Support: subsidised jobs (§ 16e) opened to long-term recipients and brought into unemployment insurance; « passive-active transfer » of benefit money to wage subsidies written into law, up to €700m a year; jobcentres receive €1bn more per year from 2026 for integration (budget decision, €4.7bn in total).[7][1]
• Fraud: jobcentres must report suspected undeclared work or minimum-wage underpayment to customs; employers become liable for benefits wrongly received because of undeclared or sham employment; the Federal Employment Agency gets a support role against organised benefit fraud from 2027; the viability of a self-employed activity is checked after one year at the latest.[7][6][1]
• Young people: from 1 August 2027 the employment agencies offer comprehensive, also outreach-based counselling under Book III, including to hard-to-reach under-25s; youth employment agencies (Jugendberufsagenturen) are written into law.[1][7]