Apply for help to continue the household
If you are temporarily unable to continue running your household due to an emergency - be it because of illness, imprisonment, recuperation measures or even after a death - and no other person in the household can take over, you can apply for help to continue running the household from the social welfare organisation responsible for you. You can receive this help if it is necessary and sensible to continue running the household, for example because you have children to look after.
You can receive assistance with all activities that you can no longer manage, at least in part, as part of the help to continue running the household. This includes housework as well as personal care for children and other family members living in the household.
Help with running the household is a social benefit based on your income and assets. It is only provided if you do not receive the required benefit from other sources or from providers of other social benefits, such as benefits from the statutory health insurance fund, care or educational assistance.
As a rule, assistance with the continuation of household chores is only intended to provide you with temporary support. You can therefore only apply for it for a transitional period. This restriction does not apply if the assistance can avoid or postpone placement in an inpatient facility.
Responsible authority
The social welfare office of the city or district (or the district municipality) in which you live is responsible.
Contact
Details
Prerequisite
- Neither you as the head of the household nor another person in the household can continue to run the household due to a temporary emergency.
- It is necessary and sensible to continue running the household, for example because you are looking after underage, school-age children.
- You are dependent on the support because you cannot finance the help in the household yourself.
- The help is only necessary on a temporary basis. This restriction does not apply if you can use the assistance to avoid or postpone placement in an inpatient facility.
Procedure
The need for assistance can be reported informally to the responsible office. A fully completed social assistance application and the required documents should then be submitted promptly.
As this social assistance benefit can only be granted from the point at which the social welfare office becomes aware of the applicant's need for assistance, the need for assistance should be notified as soon as possible.
After the application has been reviewed and, if necessary, further statements have been obtained, you will receive a decision.
Deadlines
This assistance begins as soon as the competent body or a body authorised by it becomes aware that the conditions for the benefit are met.
Required documents
- Identity card or passport (or other documents that can identify the person beyond doubt)
- Proof of need, such as a medical certificate
- Proof of financial need (e.g. pension statement, payslips, proof of existing assets, proof of rent)
The scope of the documents required, in particular proof of income and assets, depends on the specifics of the individual case.
Costs
none
Miscellaneous
none
Legal basis
Sozialgesetzbuch (SGB) Zwölftes Buch (XII) - Sozialhilfe:
- § 70 Hilfe zur Weiterführung des Haushalts
Release note
Machine generated, based on the German release by: Sozialministerium Baden-Württemberg, 18.08.2025