The federal government must raise an additional €250 million for basic income support in the current year. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has applied for an over-budget expenditure to that end, according to a letter from the Ministry of Finance to the Budget Committee that is available to the “Tagesspiegel” and which the “Welt” reported on Friday, 6 November. The reform of Bürgergeld, which came into force in the summer, was actually supposed to reduce spending.
For 2026, just over €28 billion was planned in the federal budget for the monthly standard rates, plus €13 billion as the federal share of accommodation and heating costs – the municipalities bear the rest. On top of that come just over €5 billion in administrative costs and nearly €5 billion for integration into work. For the two big items, things are now turning out differently than planned: more is being spent on the standard rates, less on accommodation and heating. The net result is an additional burden of €250 million.
Additional health insurance contributions drive up costs
According to the “Welt”, the letter from Parliamentary State Secretary Dennis Rohde (SPD) cites above all the additional contributions of the statutory health insurance funds as the reasons: their level had not been foreseeable, and the corresponding back payment by the federal government turned out significantly higher than in previous years. Rohde also points to “cost-increasing framework conditions” in the federal contribution to the costs of housing and heating. Because basic income support is a legal entitlement of those affected, the federal government has no choice: it must finance the payments.
The reform that converted Bürgergeld into basic income support came into force in the summer. The Union had originally promised billions in savings with it. The Ministry of Labour had most recently pointed out that since the summer around €100 million per month had been saved compared with the respective month of the previous year. Even before the current report, however, it was foreseeable that expectations were far above the actual effect of the law: on 24 October the “Merkur” reported, citing Bundestag printed paper 21/3541, that the federal government itself put the relief for 2026 at €86 million and for 2027 at €70 million – for 2028 and 2029 it even calculates additional costs of eleven and nine million euros respectively. In December 2024, as CDU chairman, Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) had held out the prospect of “double-digit billions” in savings.
“Merz’s sanctions fetishism”
Sharp criticism comes from the Greens. Timon Dzienus, spokesperson of the Greens parliamentary group on the Committee for Labour and Social Affairs, told the “Tagesspiegel”: “The savings announced through the reform of Bürgergeld were a brazen lie from day one. With the new basic income support you don’t save a single cent, but have already incurred €250 million in additional costs in the first year.” Dzienus speaks of “Merz’s sanctions fetishism”, which saves no money and robs people of their future. “The Union should be ashamed of its shabby campaign.” He considers sanctions “labour market policy nonsense”: anyone who really wants to save brings people into good jobs through qualification. “Instead of further sanctions, what is needed is therefore more opportunities for a self-determined life; instead of fear, what is needed is support and further training.”
According to information from the “Tagesspiegel”, the federal government regularly tops up money for basic income support. There were over-budget expenditures in previous years too: according to the “Welt”, an additional €3.2 billion had to be provided in 2024. Measured against that, today’s €250 million is a small amount – but a politically delicate one, because it calls the central promise of the reform into question.
How things proceed depends on the Budget Committee, which has to decide on the over-budget expenditure. According to the “Merkur”, the draft budget for 2027 provides around €50.81 billion for basic income support for jobseekers, of which €27.7 billion alone for the basic income support payment – this year the figure is around €51.02 billion. Whether sanctions noticeably reduce costs is questionable in any case: according to the Ministry of Labour, around five million people receive basic income support, about 1.4 million of them children. Many of the rest are already working, but their income is not enough to live on. The federal government itself has calculated that it would take 100,000 fewer people in receipt of benefits to reduce spending by around €850 million a year – a model calculation based on average payment entitlements from June 2025.
Editor’s note: Whether and when the Budget Committee will decide on the application does not emerge from the available sources. The assessment that the €250 million is politically delicate is an evaluation by this editorial team.
