Citizens’ allowance: What has really changed for people affected by poverty

The voice

Over 13 million people in Germany are affected by poverty. Around 5.2 million of them received unemployment benefit II (Hartz IV) last year – they have been receiving citizen benefit since January 2023. The social benefit, which has been heralded as “the biggest reform in the last ten years”.

But is citizen money really that great? Poverty has many faces, one of them is Janina Lütt. The 46-year-old is chronically ill and therefore unable to work. She not only witnessed the introduction of citizen income, but also the Hartz reforms. At watson she tells her story – and she talks about what she really needs as a poor person to lead a life in dignity.

Janina says:

“I have always been affected by poverty in my life. Back then, after my training, I decided to go back to school and do my Abitur.

At that time I was diagnosed with major depression. My psychological companion had advised me to structure my days. And because I knew that school would give me structure – but also personally an incredible amount, I got through to the social welfare office that I would still get support. I was extremely lucky that it worked.

Janina Lütt is one of 13.8 million people affected by poverty in Germany.Image: private

That sounds unbelievable today, but that was before the Hartz reforms. Back then, even more was possible. And I also had a really great caseworker – at least after we spoke up. Because the first time I was really nasty confronted with classism at the office.

A term that I only got to know later. And I’m thankful that I know the word today. Because for years I’ve suffered from something I couldn’t name. I was once confronted with it in a very blatant way in the hospital.

A doctor didn’t want to treat me with a budding pelvic nephritis and fever because I ‘belonged in psychiatry with my depression’. And because, as a Hartz IV recipient, I just want to chow through the weekend. I still got a drip – but it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that people affected by poverty have problems naming it when they are confronted with such abusive people.

The book ‘Access Verwehrt’ by Francis Seeck made me realize just how much classism promotes social injustice. I know now: I didn’t make it up, it’s not just a vague feeling. Classism is a fact.

Even when I was devalued at the office because of my poverty, I threw a tantrum. And the caseworker explains that I have a chronic illness – and that if I could I would like to teach her children. My dream was to become a teacher after graduation.

So I was allowed to graduate, but because of the depression I was only able to go to school for about 1.5 years in those three years. After school I went back to work. But I had the problem that I had a good professional qualification and my high school diploma – so I was too overqualified and too expensive for many employers. As a result, I was repeatedly unemployed or worked well below the agreed rate due to contractual loopholes.

I then worked as a facility manager in a student club – and then many factors led to the fact that I had to give up the job: Two bereavements in the family, stress with my partner and bullying at work by a new colleague led me straight into exhaustion depression .

Minister of Labor Hubertus Heil (SPD) was responsible for the citizen income reform.Bild: IMAGO/Political-Moments

After that, I kept trying to get 450-euro jobs. I was cleaning and worked at McDonalds, but at some point it just didn’t work anymore. My depression got too bad.

Since 2003 I have received Hartz IV. I went through a number of measures and 1-euro jobs, at some point the employment office asked me to apply for retirement. I was on sick leave too often, now I’m an early pensioner. Hartz IV has meanwhile become citizen income. And I have to say that for many people affected by poverty it has really made things better. A step in the right direction that will hopefully be expanded.

But it is also clear that the rates are far too low and I would like it if the freedom from sanctions were broader. But the approaches are good. The placement priority is eliminated – that means people receiving basic income no longer have to do all that shit – children from recipient families are allowed to earn money. Citizens’ income recipients are also allowed to earn more money than before. What I can say is that Agenda 2010 simply did not do people any good.

I also think that the reform should have come last summer, because inflation is tearing a huge hole in the wallet. I’m lucky that I have a circle of friends who cushion it and support me. I am also a customer at the Tafel and get groceries there. Nevertheless, I’m just realizing that the citizen’s income is a bit more – but it’s slipping away from me.

For me, as a chronically ill person, not much will actually change with the citizen’s income, apart from the 50 euros that I now get more per month. And the designation. Hartz IV has a negative impact on me. The term “citizen money” is new and I have to say that it is still neutral for me. I have hope that media and Politics don’t break it again – even if I see the first signs.

This slander campaign CDU last year was really the worst for me. What kind of image of man is being propagated with it? At that moment, classism took on a completely different dimension for me. Even if I have the feeling that a lot has changed since the #I am poverty affected initiative.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz in particular has shaped the debate on citizen income with classical stereotypes.Image: dpa / Kay Nietfeld

On the one hand, people affected by poverty have networked and found their voice and courage to take to the streets. And the argument that the media should talk to those affected and not about them caught on.

We are no longer labeled as socially vulnerable – which we are not – but as poor. Or at risk of poverty, a very ironic word I think, because I’m not at risk. I am poor. But a completely different vocabulary is used and that can change a lot.

And, let’s face it, I’ll be poor for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t be able to do any of this without my friends, without the tablet, and without my survival skills. I would need a monthly rate of 725 euros, like the one Joint Welfare Association calculated in order to be able to live well. Child support can also help.

Although I find it ironic – because the child benefit is currently being deducted. The irony is therefore: If this amount were also paid to recipients of citizenship benefit, there would be no need for basic child security.

But what has changed a lot for me is an insight that I had: My poverty is not my fault, but it is a fact. No one needs to be ashamed of their poverty.”