The aid organization “Moabit helps” warns of “chaos and inefficiency” when people from Ukraine move from the social welfare offices to the job centers. Spokeswoman Diana Henniges criticized what she saw as a lack of information for the refugees. “We are embarrassing ourselves here,” said Henniges of the German Press Agency (DPA).
She called for a “very large information campaign” from the state and federal government, both on site, for example at the main train station, and digitally. It is not enough to put information on a website, you also have to reach people on Whatsapp or Telegram.
In addition, offers in all the necessary languages are necessary, not just in German. It is always said that the official language is German. “Escape is just not German,” said Henniges.
A system change is imminent for Ukrainian war refugees: from June 1st, the job centers will no longer be responsible for their care nationwide. In Berlin, they should get access to social benefits as quickly as possible through the job center, Social Senator Katja Kipping (left) assured last week. This is a big step forward for the refugees. The Asylum Seekers Benefits Act no longer applies to them. Instead, you can claim better benefits under the Social Security Code.
According to “Moabit helps”, the situation is difficult. According to Henniges, there are hungry families at the club’s door in the morning. In a message, the aid organization lists where it sees the problem: social welfare offices announced that they would call again if “further services were possible”, which then did not happen. New benefit applications would be rejected with reference to the imminent responsibility of the job center. Assumption of costs for rental contracts would be refused with reference to the job center. “Applications from third-country nationals from Ukraine are often not even accepted,” it says.
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“The social welfare offices are obviously acting as if there were a fundamental change for everyone on the deadline,” the association complained. “However, this is not the case. It will be weeks or months before all applications are processed in the job centers.”
