Mobility assistance

The purpose of mobility assistance is to encourage jobseekers to accept jobs further from home. Mobility assistance is for covering the costs of relocation or commuting.

You may qualify for mobility assistance if:

  • you are entitled to a daily allowance immediately before the beginning of your employment relationship (even during a suspension period or employment requirement imposed by a TE Office, or the 5-day waiting period),
  • your new employment relationship has a duration of at least 2 months,
  • your daily commute to and from work is more than 3 hours altogether for full-time employment, or more than 2 hours altogether for part-time employment,
  • you participate in a training related to an employment lasting for a minimum of 2 months. In order to receive mobility assistance for the training, the travel to and from work should take more than 3 hours a day (for a full-time job) or 2 hours (for a part-time job)

Mobility assistance cannot be paid during a temporary layoff.

Even if you are not yet entitled to an earnings-related daily allowance, for instance because of a waiting period, you must apply for a daily allowance in addition to mobility assistance, so that the KOKO fund can investigate whether you are entitled to the daily allowance and to mobility assistance. The commuting time is considered to include transfers between means of transport and the related waiting times, but not things like taking children to daycare.

Means of transport

The commute is calculated based on the fastest transportation device on hand. The commuting time is calculated by public transportation if you do not own a car, and by car if you own one. You do not need to buy a car to be eligible for mobility assistance.

Applying for mobility assistance

Mobility assistance can be applied for in a retrospective period of 3 months. You should therefore apply for mobility assistance no later than 3 months after the beginning of the employment relationship.

Submit your mobility assistance application to KOKO as an attachment through the eService. Append a copy of your employment contract to your application.

Amount and duration of mobility assistance

Mobility assistance is the same as the basic daily allowance, €37.21 per day in 2024 (approximately €800 per month). Mobility assistance is a taxable benefit.

Mobility assistance can be paid with a child support supplement. The child support supplement is paid for children under the age of 18. The amount of the child support supplement is

5,84 euros for one child
8,57 euros for two children
11,05 euros for three or more children

The amount of the child support supplement is defined by how many children you have when you start to receive mobility assistance. Please note: As a result of the legislative amendment, the child increases will be removed from unemployment security on 1 April 2024. Read more

You can be paid an increased mobility assistance if your working place is located further than 200 kilometers away from your previous place of residence. The increased component is 5,29 euros per day.

The duration of the assistance period varies depending on the duration of the employment relationship and it can be 30, 45 or 60 days. Since the assistance is paid for a maximum of 5 days per week starting from the beginning of the employment, the number of days paid varies.

Minimum duration of employment Assistance period  Amount of paid days
2 months 30 day 22-24 days
3 months 45 days 33-35 days
4 months 60 days 44-45 days

Mobility assistance is paid retrospectively per payment period. The payment period starts from the beginning of the employment relationship.

If you are working part-time, the mobility assistance is only paid for the working days. The employment is considered part-time if your working time is not more than 80% of the maximum working hours of a full-time employee.

Even if you apply for mobility allowance for the entire period beforehand, it will be paid retrospectively per payment period, the first payment period being 2 weeks and the next ones 4 weeks each.