Overview

• A first government draft outlines scrapping Bürgergeld in favor of a renamed Grundsicherung with stricter eligibility and enforcement rules.
• Sanctions would tighten, with 30% benefit cuts for three months for missed appointments or other minor breaches, and possible full withdrawal after repeated refusals of suitable jobs.
• The one-year asset exemption would be abolished, requiring recipients to draw on personal savings first, with remaining protected assets calculated individually.
• Housing protections in the first year would end, allowing authorities to require immediate moves from dwellings deemed too expensive.
• Ministers frame the overhaul as a response to organized welfare fraud and aim to bring the bill to cabinet in October, while welfare groups VdK and SoVD denounce stigmatization and argue documented abuse is a small fraction of cases.