Free Funding

If you apply for the free funding, your job center will check whether and to what extent you can receive the funding. If your application is approved, all necessary and reasonable costs can generally be covered. These will be transferred to your account in the form of a grant or loan. If you are taking part in a project or other offer, the costs can also be paid directly to the project or training provider.

If you would like to receive the benefit, you can apply for free funding online or at your local Jobcenter. It is advisable to arrange a consultation appointment with your contact person at the job center. This will allow you to clarify in advance whether Free Funding is possible and which support services can be offered.

If a benefit from the free grant is possible:

• your contact person at the Jobcenter will discuss the next steps with you,
• you will receive the relevant application documents,
• fill out the application documents and send them to the Jobcenter together with the necessary evidence and supporting documents, or
• use the option of submitting the application online. To do this, you must complete the online application and upload the necessary supporting documents.

After your job center has checked everything, you will receive a written notification. This will state whether you can take part in a project or offer of free support, whether costs will be covered or whether you will be granted a grant or loan (credit).

Important: Please note that you must apply for free funding before the costs are incurred. The application is free of charge.

If you would like to apply for free funding, it is important that you submit the application before the costs to be covered are incurred.

Depending on the support you have applied for, you will need to submit the relevant supporting documents. Your contact person will tell you which documents must be enclosed with the application.

There is no prescribed maximum duration of free support. However, your Jobcenter will weigh up how sensible and economical the support is.

In individual cases, free funding can also be continued for up to 6 months after you have taken up employment and left benefit receipt. Talk to your contact person at the Jobcenter about this.

It does not matter whether you cover your entire living expenses with Citizen's Benefit or only supplement your income with it. Free funding measures can help to stabilize and secure your current employment.