The federal government has dared an experiment.

For a few months, she tested what would happen if the state no longer forced Hartz IV recipients to work.

In May it decided on a moratorium on sanctions. Since then, anyone who refuses a “reasonable” job has not been allowed to have their monthly payments cut.

Anna Schiller

volunteer.

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One could say that in the past few months it has been tested what would have happened if the SPD and the Greens had prevailed with their ideal of citizen income.

You don't want a system "that puts people under the general suspicion of not wanting to go to work," said Labor Minister Hubertus Heil in September when he presented his plans.

Citizens' income should have a new spirit: "of empowerment, trust and respect."

The experiment failed not only politically, but also in reality.

For example, with the case managers at the job center in Hanau, a city with almost 100,000 inhabitants near Frankfurt.

Their job is to give Hartz IV recipients, whom they call "clients," a new perspective.

They point out suitable positions or organize further training and give tips for applications.

You can even get money for new work clothes from them.

Five out of ten "clients" don't come

But they can currently only help those who come voluntarily.

And about half of the appointments nobody comes anymore.

This is a result of the experiment from Berlin.

In addition to the many tasks of the case manager, a new one has been added: waiting.

And so they have time to talk about their work and their “clients”.

For example, there is the young father with two children.

He received twelve letters from his supervisor at the job center and ignored them twelve times.

They don't know what problems he might have.

You still have to pay.

"We don't get the total refusers.

The law doesn't allow that at the moment," says case manager Stephan Rauscher.

Before the experiment, nine out of ten of his "clients" came, now it's only five out of ten.

The rules went from one extreme to the other: In the old Hartz IV system, recipients could have their benefits completely canceled.

Then the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the deductions may not exceed thirty percent.

Finally, the traffic light came in May with its transitional regulation: Anyone who misses an appointment at the job center twice should be able to have their money cut, but only ten percent.

The “come culture”, as they call it here, has changed as a result.

Sanctions are rarely imposed

Rauscher and his colleagues make it clear: nobody wants to bully others.

Nobody enjoys taking something away from someone who already has little.

Sanctions are always the last resort.

In general, they are imposed only extremely rarely.

Last year, three percent of Hartz IV recipients were affected.

In the past, a letter was often enough in which those who stayed away were told how much could be canceled for them.

This led many to come to the counseling sessions after all.

This tool has been taken away from case managers in recent months without considering alternatives.

So the only thing left for them to do was to call people, to appeal to their personal responsibility.

And now they have to justify themselves for their work.

They should make their advice more attractive and meet the unemployed more "at eye level", according to the draft law on citizen income.

Minister of Labor Heil demanded that they sit down with Hartz IV recipients in the job centers and ask: "What are you doing yourself, what do we have to do to get you out as soon as possible?" Instead of threatening legal instructions and sanctions, one should try , "getting it together".

The employees are angry about prejudices

But they have been working in Hanau for a long time with rewards and "on an equal footing".

These aren't new ideas that they only came up with because of the citizens' income.

There is, for example, the young person who is given 2,500 euros for a driver's license by the office when he completes his training.

This is an incentive for him, and it should enable him to come as a craftsman to the construction sites in the future, which are often in places that are poorly connected to public transport.

Even in the lockdown, they were there for the unemployed in the job center.

They have arranged to go for a walk with them so that no one falls through the cracks during the Corona period.