If you apply for help to maintain your household, your responsible office will check individually whether you can receive the help. The benefits depend on your income and assets.
Support for Aging at Home
Important Facts
For various reasons, you may temporarily no longer be able to manage your household independently. In this case, assistance to continue running your household will help you to continue living in familiar surroundings and in your usual living environment. If the assistance can prevent or delay a stay in a home, a longer-term benefit is also possible.
It is advisable to arrange a consultation appointment with your local contact person at your social welfare office. This will allow you to clarify in advance whether and which support services are available to you.
Who is eligible?
Your responsible office will check on an individual basis whether you are entitled to help with household maintenance.
In principle, the following conditions must be met in order to receive the benefit:
- There is a separate household that is to be continued (for example, because underage children would be affected by the otherwise imminent dissolution of the household)
- The household can no longer be managed independently or only partially (e.g. due to age, illness or disability)
- None of the other people living in the household can manage the household
- There is no entitlement to have the costs of the service covered by other providers (e.g. health or care insurance)
You are not entitled to help with running the household if
- another person in the household can take over the relevant activities (e.g. shopping, cooking and cleaning)
- another institution (e.g. health and care insurance funds) covers the costs of assistance
The most important topics regarding help to continue the household
If you would like to receive help to maintain your household, you can apply for this at your local social welfare office or online. It is advisable to arrange a consultation with your contact person. This will allow you to clarify in advance whether and which support services are available to you.
If you meet the requirements for the benefit, the assistance must be suitable to enable you to continue living at home and running a household.
Depending on your individual requirements and living situation, you can be supported with the following services, for example:
- Cleaning assistance
- Shopping assistance
- Transportation assistance
- Care of the children to be looked after
- Regular accompaniment (e.g. to school, visits to the doctor, physiotherapy)
Frequently asked questions about help to continue the household
As a rule, assistance to continue running the household is only granted on a temporary basis, particularly during illness, pregnancy, hospitalization, convalescence measures or cures that prevent the person concerned from running the household.
Exceptionally, assistance may be granted for a longer, indefinite period if this can avoid or delay placement in a home or similar institution.
Your contact person at your competent authority will inform you which documents are required.
These may include the following documents and papers, for example:
- Application for social assistance with attachments
- Valid identity documents, confirmation of registration if applicable
- if available, notification from the care insurance fund, if applicable, expert opinion from the medical service of the health insurance funds
- Medical documents, if available
- If applicable, notification from the pension office regarding the determination of a degree of disability, severely disabled person's pass
- Proof of health and long-term care insurance
- Notice of rejection from the health or long-term care insurance fund including reasons
- Proof of income
- Proof of assets
e.g. for capital-forming insurance (life insurance, building society insurance, Riester pension contracts, death benefit insurance, funeral provision and similar), savings accounts, land, real estate, valuables, car - Bank statements
- Tenancy agreement, rent change letter if applicable
The scope of the documents required may vary and depends on your personal circumstances.
If possible, help to continue the household should be provided by family members, close relatives or neighbors. A reimbursement of expenses or an allowance can then be granted for these persons. In the case of a longer-term assignment, it may also be possible to pay contributions to an appropriate old-age pension scheme for the assigned persons.
If assistance cannot be provided by this group of people, the reasonable costs of a specialist will be covered.
Apply Online
Here you can apply directly online for help to continue your household.