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.