A specialist commission appointed by Federal Labour Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) is proposing a far-reaching overhaul of Germany’s system of social benefits, according to a report. The commission recommends merging the future basic income support, currently known as Citizen's Benefit (Bürgergeld), with housing benefits and the child supplement into a single unified assistance scheme. These details come from the commission’s report, excerpts of which were published on Monday by the Süddeutsche Zeitung ahead of the official presentation scheduled for Tuesday.
The consolidation of benefits is intended to end the current situation in which people seeking support must file multiple applications at different authorities, sometimes being referred from one office to another. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the report contains 26 concrete recommendations to be implemented by the federal government, the states and municipalities.
The recommendations aim to better coordinate different social benefits and prevent unintended consequences for recipients. This includes situations in which people who increase their working hours ultimately have no additional income because higher earnings lead to significant cuts in benefits such as housing assistance or basic income support. The commission wants these offsetting rules to be changed, the paper reported.
The practice of referring people to other social offices, the much-criticised administrative “ping-pong”, is also to be eliminated. According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the commission proposes a clear division of responsibilities: job centres would be responsible for all recipients who are generally able to work, meaning those capable of working at least three hours a day, while municipal social welfare offices would handle all others, such as people who are unable to work.
Achieving a “fully uniform administrative structure” would, however, require an amendment to the Basic Law, which should now be pursued “as quickly as possible,” the paper quoted from the final report. The relevant provision, Article 91e of the Basic Law, currently stipulates a different division of responsibilities.
As part of a “digital restart of the welfare state,” there should also be extensive data sharing among social authorities at the federal, state and municipal levels, for example between job centres, local social welfare offices and housing benefit departments. Authorities would be able to exchange data directly, preventing the need for citizens to repeatedly provide the same information on lengthy forms each time they apply for assistance. Child benefits would in future be paid automatically after birth, without requiring an application.
Unlike the pensions commission, the commission on social state reform was not primarily composed of academic experts. Instead, the proposals were developed by government stakeholders from the federal government, the states and municipalities. Participants included eight federal ministries, representatives from states such as Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hamburg, and major municipal associations such as the Association of German Cities. The process was led by the Federal Labour Ministry under Bas.
The commission plans to hand over the report to Minister Bas on Tuesday. She had tasked the group with developing concrete proposals for a more efficient and citizen-friendly social administration. The level of protection for citizens is not intended to be reduced. The commission focused on tax-funded benefits such as Citizen's Benefit, housing benefits and the child supplement. Separate commissions are currently working on recommendations for reforming contribution-funded systems such as pensions and health insurance, as planned by the coalition government.
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