Job centre

In addition to the "WBA" form, current proof of assets must also be submitted. In any case, this includes bank statements for the last three months. If you have other assets (e.g. savings book, building society savings contract, life insurance, credit card, PayPal, ...) you should also submit current statements or proof of these.

In addition, you should submit the current consumption statement for heating and water costs, the current utility bill and your payslips, if you have not already done so, at the latest with your application for further education. As a general rule, you should inform the Job Centre of any changes to your living situation as soon as you become aware of them.

In addition to the letterbox and submission at the information desk, it is also possible to submit your application documents digitally. You can use the new contact form to upload your documents and send them directly to your contact person.

The contact form makes it easier to submit documents digitally and is technically more secure than sending them by e-mail.

In principle, you do not have to use up all your savings.

There are allowances so that your assets are protected up to a certain limit:
Your saved assets are not taken into account during the waiting period in the first year of receiving the Citizen's Allowance up to an amount of 40,000 euros and 15,000 euros for each additional person.

After the waiting period, an allowance of 15,000 euros applies for each person. There are also protected assets, such as a reasonable car or a reasonably sized owner-occupied house or flat, which you do not have to use to overcome your need for assistance.

Details will be checked after the application has been submitted and can be requested from the Job Centre.

If you have a decentralised hot water supply, you may be granted additional benefits for this. A decentralised hot water supply exists if the hot water is not produced centrally via the heating system, but separately, e.g. via an instantaneous water heater/under-sink appliance in your own home.

Billing is then usually done via the household energy. If this is the case, please state this in the application documents. If your hot water is supplied centrally, the hot water is always billed via the heating costs.

After you have submitted the initial contact, the application documents will be sent to you by your case officer. The processing time depends on how extensive your case is and how quickly you submit all the necessary application documents.

If you submit the documents by e-mail, you will receive a confirmation e-mail stating that your e-mail has been received and is being processed. Documents that you drop in the letterbox or hand in at the information desk will be scanned and then forwarded to your contact person.

Once your application has been processed, you will receive notification by post. If we require further documents, you will also receive a letter from the Job Centre.

Citizen's allowance and social assistance also cover the need for accommodation and heating. This applies both to the requirements for rented accommodation and for owner-occupied residential property.

The costs that are taken into account for rented accommodation include basic rent, ancillary costs and heating costs. In the case of owner-occupied residential property, debt interest and house charges can be taken into account. Repayment instalments are only taken into account in some exceptional cases.

In the first year of benefit receipt, the costs for accommodation are generally taken into account in full when calculating the benefit entitlement. Thereafter, if there are unreasonable costs, it is checked whether a change of residence would be economical. In this case, the unreasonable costs are recognised for as long as it is not possible or reasonable to reduce the costs, usually for a maximum of six months. Heating costs are only taken into account in the first year if they are reasonable.

Requirements for household electricity (except for heating) are part of the standard benefit.

This overview shows guide values for what housing costs* are generally considered reasonable in Bocholt:

• 1 person: 425.50 euros
• 2 persons: 521.95 euros
• 3 persons: 620.80 euros
• 4 persons: 747.65 euros
• 5 persons: 964.70 euros
• each additional person: plus 131.55 euros

* Reasonable gross cold rent (basic rent plus cold ancillary costs), as of 2/2024

The job centre or social welfare office decides whether a flat is considered appropriate in individual cases, despite the higher gross rent. This may be the case, for example, in the event of a need for care.

If you receive citizen's allowance or social assistance and are planning to move house, the assumption of accommodation costs and the costs associated with the move must be reassessed.

If you want to ensure that the accommodation costs are covered in future, contact your responsible case officer in advance. They will advise you on the procedure for moving house.

The job centre can grant an initial allowance for furniture if the relevant requirements are met. An informal application is sufficient for this. Details will be checked after the application has been submitted and can be requested from the Job Centre.

The initial furnishing includes lump sums for furniture and household goods. In individual cases, a replacement purchase can also be granted as a loan.

The job centre can grant you a loan for the rent deposit if the requirements are met. Further details will be clarified in an interview.

You then repay the loan in instalments, which are deducted from your entitlement. The application can be made informally.

In individual cases, an unavoidable unmet need can be granted as a loan, even if it is generally covered by the standard need.

A need is considered unavoidable if it cannot be postponed to avoid an emergency situation (e.g. electricity debts in the event of an impending electricity cut-off). You should provide appropriate evidence or explanations as to why your individual need is unavoidable and a loan is therefore necessary.

Reclaims for benefits granted can also be repaid in instalments. Please contact your benefits officer or submit an instalment proposal stating the monthly instalments in which you would like to make the repayment.

If possible, the instalments will then be withheld from your current benefit entitlement and deducted directly until the required total amount has been repaid.

If you are interested in the topic of education and participation with the Münsterland Map, you will find all the information you need on our topic page. (Click here.)

As a citizen's allowance recipient, you can be exempted from the obligation to pay the licence fee. To do so, you can submit an application for exemption from the licence fee to the Beitragsservice and provide proof that you are receiving a citizen's allowance.

Such proof is included in the first notice of grant and in every further notice of grant from the job centre. Present this certificate of your benefit receipt when you apply to the licence fee service.

Please be sure to inform your case manager if you are going on holiday or would like to leave Bocholt temporarily for other reasons. In principle, you need the Job Centre's consent to go away, as you cannot be contacted during this time in order to be placed in work.

Citizen's income - Citizen's income is a basic income or basic security for people who are able to work and in need. It replaces the former unemployment benefit II, also known as Hartz IV. The citizen's income has been available in Germany since 01.01.2023.

There is an entitlement to citizen's income:

• In case of need
• in the case of basic earning capacity
• Usually following unemployment benefit I

Need - The need is the amount of money that people need to live. This includes the purchase of clothing and food and everything for daily needs (including electricity). This amount has been calculated and depends on age and family situation. At the job centre, it is also called the "standard requirement"

Needs community - A needs community, also abbreviated to BG, is created when several people from one household apply for benefits (e.g. a family with children under 25, spouses, registered partners or people who are in a committed relationship). At least one person must be able to work. A representative of the joint household can be appointed in writing for certain matters so that not all members of the joint household always have to attend the application. (see also: Joint household)

Notification - If you submit an application for Citizen's Allowance to the Bocholt Job Centre, you will receive a written reply. This is also called a decision. This notice contains, for example, information on how your application was decided. In other words, whether it was approved or not, whether anything has changed or whether you may have received benefits wrongly and have to pay something back.

Data protection - You have to provide a lot of personal data when applying for Citizen's Allowance at the Jobcentre. This is important so that the Jobcenter Bocholt can calculate whether and how much money you are entitled to. However, you can be sure that your data will be handled in accordance with the regulations at the job centre and that it will be specially protected. There are regulations that the Jobcenter Bocholt strictly adheres to.

Income - Income is money that you receive regularly (e.g. salary, interest, housing benefit, alimony, child benefit, vocational training allowance or rental income). However, one-off income, e.g. tax refunds, reimbursement of ancillary costs or income from sales are also included in income and must be declared.

Earning capacity - Earning capacity is the ability of anyone over the age of 15 to work at least 3 hours a day.

Household community - In contrast to the benefit community, the members of the household community (also known as HG) live together but do not belong together. These are, for example, children over 25, foster children, grandparents, uncles and aunts who also live in the household.

Need of assistance - You are considered to be in need of assistance by the Job Centre and can therefore generally apply for citizen's allowance if you do not have enough money to live on or the money you earn is not enough for the whole family. You are also in need of help if you already receive help from other social welfare organisations (e.g. child supplement), but the money is still not enough.

Information - You will always receive information from Jobcenter Bocholt if there are any important changes for you. Therefore, please read all letters carefully and ask if necessary. The details of your contact person can be found at the top right of the letter.

Accommodation costs (KdU) - Jobcenter Bocholt will cover the costs of your accommodation and heating costs, provided they are reasonable. This will be calculated by your responsible case worker, who can also tell you the current upper limits for rent and the size of the flat. Even if you live in your own house or flat, the Job Centre will calculate the costs accordingly.

Additional needs/special additional needs - Sometimes the normal standard needs are not enough if you are in a special situation. It may therefore be possible to apply for additional needs. This is possible if you are pregnant (from the 13th week of pregnancy), have a disability, are dependent on special food or have to buy books prescribed by the school.

There are also special additional needs if the costs of living and special reasons are higher. These include, for example, special hygiene products for special illnesses or travelling expenses for contact with your own child. Glasses and dentures are not considered special needs!

Duty to cooperate - All people who receive citizen's allowance must cooperate with the job centre. This is also known as the duty to co-operate. You must therefore

• always provide correct and complete information
• be able to prove your statements, e.g. by showing documents or certificates
• inform the centre immediately if something changes in your life that is important for receiving benefits. For example, if you have found a job or your rent has increased.
• submit a certificate of incapacity for work to the Job Centre if you are currently on sick leave.

Pupils - As every person over the age of 15 is considered fit for work, young people from this age are also invited to the case management of the Jobcentre Bocholt. The aim of the counselling here is of course to offer pupils the best possible support in their school career, in choosing an apprenticeship or in achieving other professional goals.

Assets - If you submit an application for Citizen's Allowance to the Bocholt Job Centre, you must also declare your assets. This includes, for example, bank account balances, cars, motorbikes, life insurance policies, building society savings contracts, land, houses, condominiums, valuable jewellery or other valuable items.

Priority benefits - Before benefits under the 2nd Social Security Code can be drawn, you must first check whether there are other benefits that must be utilised first, so-called "priority benefits". These are, for example, child benefit, child supplement, housing benefit, maintenance advance, pension, sickness benefit, parental benefit, BafÖg or unemployment benefit I.

Objection - If you receive a letter from the Jobcentre Bocholt with a decision that you do not agree with, you can submit an objection. You must submit the objection in writing and give a reason why you do not agree with the decision of the Jobcentre Bocholt.