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Staggering of the earnings-related daily allowance

The level of the daily allowance is staggered. This means that the level of the earnings-related daily allowance decreases as unemployment becomes longer. The purpose of the staggering is to make it more profitable to take up work and thus shorten periods of unemployment.

Staggering

The amount of the daily allowance will be reduced for the first time after we have paid you 40 days of daily allowance.

The second reduction will take place after we have paid you a daily allowance for 170 days.

We pay you up to five days a week, so 40 days is just under two months and 170 days is just under eight months.

The first staggering reduces the earnings-related allowance to 80% of the full earnings-related daily allowance.

The second staggering reduces the earnings-related daily allowance to 75% of the full earnings-related daily allowance.

Full daily allowance
per month		After 40 payment
days		After 170 payment
days
       1 090 €872 €818 €
       1 306 €1 045 €979 €
       1 523 €1 218 €1 142 €
       1 739 €1 391 €1 304 €
       1 956 €1 565 €1 467 €
       2 094 €1 675 €1 571 €

There is a lower limit to the staggering. After the staggering, the earnings-related daily allowance cannot be less than the basic daily allowance of 37,21 € or the basic daily allowance of 37,21 € plus an increase of 5,29 € for services to promote employment.

A staggered daily allowance consumes the maximum period of the daily allowance in the same way as the days would be consumed without the staggering. Each day paid consumes one day of the maximum payment period.

The full amount of the daily allowance is restored when you meet the working condition again.

Staggering of the adjusted daily allowance

If we pay you an adjusted or reduced daily allowance, the staggering will reduce the full daily allowance from which the adjustment or reduction is made.

The reduction is therefore not a straight line of 80% or 75% of the adjusted or reduced daily allowance. The reduction is 80% or 75% of the full daily allowance from which the adjusted or reduced daily allowance is calculated.

Transition from old to new

We will apply staggering from 2.9.2024.

Staggering applies to you if,

  • you meet the working condition on or after 2.9.2024, and
  • the working condition requirement is 12 months

Your full earnings-related daily allowance is 90 € per day and you apply for an earnings-related allowance from 1.8.2024.

Your working condition is met on 31.7.2024 and we pay you an earnings-related daily allowance after a seven-day waiting period from 12.8.2024.

Your unemployment continues for 100 days. Your daily allowance will remain at 90 € for the whole period of unemployment.

Your full earnings-related daily allowance is 90 € per day and you are claiming it from 1.10.2024. You will have reached the working condition on 30.9.2024 and we will start paying you the daily allowance after the waiting period from 10.10.2024. Your unemployment will continue for 200 days.

We will pay you the full amount for the first 40 days.

For the next 130 days, you will receive 80% of the initial amount.

After 170 days, you will receive 75% of the initial amount.

We will pay you an adjusted daily allowance of 50 € per day from 1.10.2025 on the basis of the working condition fulfilled on 31.8.2025. You are covered by the staggering.

Your full daily allowance will be 100 € per day. The adjusted daily allowance of 50 € is 50% of this, so the maximum time spent on each adjusted daily allowance paid is also only 0.5 days. In this case, only two days of adjusted daily allowance are equal to one full day of daily allowance.

In this case, the first reduction in the earnings-related daily allowance due to staggering will only occur after we have paid you a total of 80 days of adjusted daily allowance as shown in the example. Similarly, the second reduction for staggering will only occur after we have paid you 340 days of the adjusted daily allowance shown in the example.

We will apply the reduction to the full amount of earnings-related daily allowance, from which we will calculate the adjusted daily allowance. Thus, the first staggering reduces the adjusted daily allowance in this example to 30 € and the second staggering reduces the adjusted daily allowance to 25 €.

Staggering from additional days

We will also stagger the earnings-related daily allowance for the additional days if the working condition for the maximum payment period has been met on or after 2.9.2024.

If the payment of earnings-related daily allowance for additional days started before 2.9.2024, we will not stagger the earnings-related daily allowance.

You are paid the full daily allowance on the basis of additional days, starting on 19.8.2024.

The staggering will not affect the amount of your daily allowance. We will pay you earnings-related daily allowance for the additional days without staggering until your entitlement to additional days ends.

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