The German government has agreed to increase aid to Holocaust survivors over the next three years.

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (the Claims Conference), announced today that they had negotiated an agreement with the government to secure substantial increases in home care funding for poor Holocaust survivors worldwide.

Under the agreement, the German government will provide €281.75 million in 2016, €315 million in 2017, and €350 million in 2018.

The funds funnelled through the Claims Conference currently cover home care, medical care, food and emergency financial assistance for 67,000 elderly survivors in 46 countries.

The new agreement will expand the aid to Holocaust victims worldwide, offering support with daily life such as bathing, dressing, cooking and taking medication, so they can remain in their own homes.

The cap of 25 hours of assistance has also been raised; under the new agreement there will be no limit on home care for survivors of camps or ghettos, while other survivors will be entitled to 40 hours of care.

Claims Conference special negotiator Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat “commded[ed] the government of Germany for recognising its continuing obligation to victims of the Holocaust, more than 70 years after liberation”.

Claims Conference president Julius Berman said: “We have been fighting for the rights of survivors for 65 years and this new agreement will have a huge impact on the most vulnerable, poor and disabled of survivors.”