Citizen’s benefit stays the same while asylum payments on the rise

Following this year's zero increase, citizen's benefit (bürgergeld) will not be increased next year either, according to a report. The federal cabinet is expected to approve a corresponding regulation from Labor Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) on September 10, reported “Bild am Sonntag.”

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The federal government is legally obliged to review the level of citizen's benefit each year on the basis of certain criteria and to adjust it if necessary. The standard rates rose sharply in 2023 and 2024 because they took inflation into account disproportionately. In 2025, there was a freeze due to lower inflation.

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According to the report, the approximately 5.6 million citizens receiving citizen's benefit will have to make do with the same amount of money from the state next year. Single people will continue to receive 563 euros per month.

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Bas also announced tougher sanctions. “I will ensure that support is more effective. Anyone who fails to attend an appointment without good reason will now have significantly more deducted,” the SPD politician told BamS. “We help people on their way to work, but they have to cooperate. Anything else is unfair to those who get up every morning,” she added.

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According to the “BamS” report, benefits for asylum seekers are to be increased by 14 euros to 455 euros per month next year. The payments had been cut by 19 euros at the beginning of 2025 after the disproportionate increase in 2024.

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The CDU/CSU and SPD have undertaken reforms of the social security systems – for example, in the areas of citizen's benefit, pensions, and health insurance. The background to this is rising costs and austerity measures in the federal budget. However, the parties' positions are still far apart – the SPD, for example, is critical of cuts in social benefits.

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Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) reiterated his call for far-reaching reforms and cuts to the social security system on Saturday. “We simply can no longer afford the system we have today,” Merz said at the North Rhine-Westphalia CDU party conference in Bonn. “We have been living beyond our means for years,” Merz criticized. Specifically, he mentioned the citizen's benefit, because “it cannot remain as it is.”

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