Apply for one-off payments under Section 31 of SGB XII

If you receive income support or basic income support for older people and those with reduced earning capacity, you may be eligible for benefits to cover certain one-off needs.
Even if you do not receive the above-mentioned benefit because you are able to meet your day-to-day needs through your own efforts and resources, but your resources are insufficient to cover one-off needs, you may still be entitled to benefits for one-off needs under certain conditions.

One-off needs include:

• Initial furnishings for your home, including household appliances, for example
  • when moving into your own home for the first time,
  • following a house fire,
  • when renting a property for the first time after serving a long prison sentence,
  • moving out of shared accommodation,
  • when leaving a women’s or men’s shelter, or
  • following a separation and the division of household goods
• Initial provision of clothing, for example
  • following a house fire or flooding
  • in the event of pregnancy and childbirth, including
    • a starter pack as well as
    • maternity wear
  • in the event of total loss or new requirements arising from exceptional circumstances. This also includes significant weight loss.
• Purchase and repair of orthopaedic shoes
• Repair of therapeutic devices and equipment, as well as
• the hire of therapeutic devices.

If you do not live alone, the social security office will take into account the total income of all members of your household – for example, a spouse with whom you live – when determining your entitlement to benefits. This includes, for example:

• Income from employment
• Maintenance payments
• Pension income

Certain assets are regarded as exempt assets that are not taken into account, for example:

• so-called ‘small cash sums’, current accounts, savings books, building society savings schemes, cash, etc.
  • per adult: EUR 10,000,
  • per child: EUR 500 or
• a reasonably sized property occupied by the owner.