(Berlin, March 5, 2026) – The German government’s legislative proposal to replace the existing basic income program for job seekers with a more punitive program would harm human rights and risks breaching the German constitutional guarantee of a dignified standard of living, Human Rights Watch said today. The legislation is due for its second reading in the lower house of parliament.
“The government’s plans would worsen living conditions and leave more people, including children in low-income families and single mothers, at risk of poverty,” said Kartik Raj, senior Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Lawmakers should reject the proposals, which run counter to Germany’s human rights obligations and the ‘minimum subsistence level’ principle in German constitutional law.”
Human Rights Watch research has found that key aspects of the current German social security system are already failing to ensure the rights to social security and to an adequate standard of living, in particular for single parents, most of whom are women raising young children. The proposed changes to the social security system are likely to exacerbate these problems.
Reducing social spending and fundamentally reshaping the social security system are priorities for the governing coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrats. A key aspect of this plan is replacing the current unemployment benefit known as “Citizens Income” (under Social Code, Book II, SGB II)) with a revised “Basic Security for Job Seekers,” that would tighten obligations for claimants and expand the scope and severity of sanctions for noncompliance.
At its heart, the plan is based on a punitive logic to shape behavior. If job center authorities deem that a person claiming unemployment benefit has “failed to report,” meaning missed an appointment or not accepted what the authorities consider available employment, their monthly benefit will be cut by 30 percent in the first instance. If the authorities consider that there are repeated failures to report, they deem the person “unreachable” and can impose “total sanctions,” withholding all benefits until the person next reports in person to a job center.
At present, when the government deems that it has reason to withhold benefits, it must still provide the part of the benefit payment apportioned for accommodation and heating costs to avoid destitution and ensure compliance with the Federal Constitutional Court’s interpretation of the “minimum subsistence level.” In the absence of such protections, the changes are likely to breach this key constitutional principle and fall short of requirements under international human rights law to ensure minimum core obligations and non-retrogression on economic, social, and cultural rights.
Human Rights Watch research identified an already existing gap between amounts received under the current Citizen’s Income, including housing costs, and the official at-risk-of-poverty threshold. For example, in 2023 a single-parent household with two children received €1,198 in monthly social security benefits, while the at-risk-of-poverty threshold for such a household in Germany, was €1,626, a 26 percent gap.
Given that people currently receiving existing full benefits can nevertheless be at risk of poverty, expanding the scope of sanctions would leave many more people with incomes that fall far short of what is needed to ensure the right to an adequate standard of living and the ”minimum subsistence level” to which they are entitled under Germany’s Constitution.
The proposal also radically changes job-seeking requirements, which, if applied as drafted, are likely to have a strong negative impact on the rights and well-being of single parents. The draft law treats all single adults as available for full-time work, making no distinction between adults living alone and those with dependents, ignoring the availability of care, which can significantly affect availability to work.
For example, as drafted, the law could be used to sanction a single mother of a two-year-old child for failing to take up an offer of full-time work when care commitments may mean taking such a job is simply not possible. This issue is further exacerbated by the longstanding shortage of publicly provided full-time free or affordable early years child care, and nonuniform provision of a full primary school day across Germany.
Additionally, the draft law does not include a clear, explicit exemption from sanctions for claimants who have responsibility for young children. Withholding or reducing benefit payments negatively impacts not only the adult claimant but also the children for whom they are responsible, who have their own rights to social security and to an adequate standard of living.
The German government is legally obliged to respect, protect, and fulfill the rights to social security and to an adequate standard of living contained in international treaties to which it has become a party. Related treaties, standards, and guidance on social security, from United Nations and European human rights bodies, require social security to be adequate.
Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court has developed jurisprudence on the minimum subsistence level required to live in dignity. This requires the state to ensure that people are left with at least enough of their earnings to cover their necessary living expenses and to guarantee a minimum level of participation in social, cultural, and political life. Withholding benefits in a manner that leaves people below this minimum subsistence level is likely to be subject to significant challenge on domestic constitutional grounds.
“German lawmakers should push back against this harsh social security bill, which will harm children and single parents,” Raj said. “Social protections that uphold rights make society stronger and more resilient.”
