The Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG)) has objected to the 10 per cent lower “special needs level” of social benefits for single adult asylum seekers in collective accommodation. This new regulation in the Asylum Seekers’ Benefits Act, passed by the German Bundestag in 2019, violates the fundamental right to be guaranteed a minimum subsistence level in human dignity (Article 1 and Article 20 of the Basic Law), the Federal Constitutional Court announced in a press release dated 24 November 2022.
The decision concerns single adults who live in so-called collective accommodation and have been legally residing in the Federal Republic of Germany for at least 18 months. As of 1 September 2019, the Bundestag has attributed to them a 10 per cent lower need for subsistence benefits by no longer basing it on standard needs level 1, but on the newly created “special needs level” of standard needs level 2. “This is incompatible with the fundamental right to guarantee a minimum subsistence level worthy of a human being,” the BVerfG said.
It was not recognisable that savings could actually be achieved in collective accommodation through joint management, which would justify a reduction of benefits by 10 per cent. Such savings possibilities were not proven by empirical findings. Even three years after the regulation came into force, no such studies have been conducted.
This means that benefit decisions since 1 September 2019 that are not yet legally binding must be recalculated according to standard needs level 1. Benefit decisions that have already become final will remain in force insofar as benefit periods prior to the announcement of the BVerfG’s decision are affected.
To the press release of the BVerfG: Bundesverfassungsgericht – Presse – Niedrigere „Sonderbedarfsstufe“ für alleinstehende erwachsene Asylbewerber in Sammelunterkünften verstößt gegen das Grundrecht auf Gewährleistung eines menschenwürdigen Existenzminimums
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Landratsamt Tübingen Unterkünfte. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Mostafa Elyasian.
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