As a rule, you receive assistance for living as a social assistance benefit if you are in need of assistance and:

• neither receive basic benefits for jobseekers
• nor receive basic benefits for old age and reduced earning capacity.

Children under 15 receive social assistance if they:

• live together with persons who receive assistance for living (usually with their parents) and
• cannot ensure their livelihood despite being entitled to maintenance.

The subsistence assistance benefits include:

• the flat-rate standard rate to ensure subsistence, for example, for food, clothing or personal hygiene. A separate standard rate is set for each family member.
• Education and participation benefits for children and young people, for example for:
  • School trips,
  • personal school supplies,
  • school tickets,
  • supplementary learning support,
  • school lunches or
  • club fees, music lessons and the like.
• Needs for accommodation and heating.
• In exceptional cases, assumption of debts for:
  • Avoiding homelessness,
  • securing your accommodation or
  • to remedy a comparable emergency, for example debts to the energy supplier.
• Needs for contributions to your health and long-term care insurance and, under certain conditions, for your old-age provision.

In addition to your standard rate, you may receive benefits for additional living needs. You can apply for these additional needs if you:

• meet the requirements for a severely disabled person's ID card with the mark "G" and are unable to work according to pension law,
• are an expectant mother from the 13th week of pregnancy,
• are a single parent,
• have reached the age of 15, are disabled and receive assistance for appropriate schooling or training within the framework of integration assistance,
• are dependent on a special diet due to a medical condition, which leads to higher costs than a "normal" diet,
• do not produce hot water through a central heating system, but decentralized (for example boiler) or
• you are a pupil and have expenses for the purchase or loan of textbooks or equivalent workbooks due to the respective school regulations or school requirements.

If you do not live alone, the Social Welfare Office will include the entire family income to determine your need for assistance. For this purpose, the income of all family members living together in one home is taken into account, for example:

• Earned income,
• alimony and
• pension income.

Child benefit paid for minors and any child support payments for a child are attributed to that child to cover the child's needs.

Certain assets are considered to be exempt assets not to be taken into account, for example:

• small amounts of cash (financial assets per adult: EUR 10,000) or
• an appropriate piece of real estate.

Except in a few exceptional cases, you will not receive benefits for past periods.