Social benefits: Left: Cut plans would affect eight million people

Berlin. Announced cuts in social benefits are estimated to affect around eight million people in Germany, according to estimates by the Left. This includes planned cuts in nursing care benefits, housing allowance, parental allowance, immediate child supplement, advance maintenance payment and delays in adjusting Bafög.

"The cut policy hits the lowest-income groups in this society with high precision," says a paper by Ulrich Schneider, a member of the Left's executive board and former managing director of the German Association of Non-Governmental Organizations.

He lists a whole series of planned reforms by the black-red coalition:

Housing allowance: The cabinet has approved a draft by Minister of Construction Verena Hubertz (SPD) with which at least 1.5 billion euros will be saved annually in 2027 and two billion euros from 2028. The circle of recipients is to be smaller, the amounts lower. This will affect several hundred thousand people, Schneider estimates.

Care: According to a draft by the Ministry of Health, access to care services is to be defined more narrowly. Schneider calculates that deleting the so-called relief amount of 131 euros for care level one could potentially affect around one million people with minor care needs.

Parental allowance: According to plans by Minister of Family Affairs Karin Prien (CDU), the minimum and maximum amounts for parental allowance are to be slightly increased. At the same time, however, the payment period is to be reduced from 14 to 12 months. The Left criticizes that this will deter young people who want children.

In 2025, 1.6 million people received parental allowance according to official statistics.

Immediate child supplement: Prien plans to delete the immediate child supplement of 25 euros for poor families who receive basic security, child allowance or housing allowance.

"1.5 million children in 600,000 households would be affected," Schneider calculates.

Advance maintenance payment: According to plans by the Minister of Family Affairs, the state is only to step in with an advance payment for children and adolescents up to the age of 16 if those liable for maintenance do not pay.

So far, an age limit of 18 applies. This would affect around 111,000 teenagers, according to the Left.

Bafög: Young people with Bafög are to receive a higher flat rate for living costs half a year later than originally planned - not in the coming winter semester, but only in the next summer semester.

More than 600,000 students and pupils are affected, Schneider writes.

Health insurance: The already approved health reform includes higher co-payments for medication and a higher co-payment for dental prosthetics.

"These are several hundred euros in serious cases," it says in the paper.

Pension reform: In the case of the debated pension reform, however, it is too early for a "sound poverty-related assessment".