Citizen’s Benefit: Fewer inconsistencies, slight increase in lawsuits

• In 2024, the number of appeals decreased while the number of lawsuits was slightly up
• The rate of appeals against Jobcenters operated as joint institutions was approximately 1.8 percent

10 Jan 2025 | Press release no.4

In 2024, 423,357 appeals were received by Jobcenters – 2,002 fewer than in the previous year. However, during the same period, the number of lawsuits rose by 851, from 47,934 to 48,785.

The most frequent appeals were made against decisions concerning the calculation of living costs, the offsetting of incomes/assets, and the cancellation and refunding of the Citizen’s Benefit. Most of the appeals fall under the category of “other”, which includes various reasons such as the withholding of the Citizen’s Benefit in the event of overpayments, the transfer of cash payments to other public authorities, or a failure to cooperate on the part of the claimant.

There was a slight increase in the number of lawsuits. The number of lawsuits filed due to reductions in benefits increased, for example. With the lifting of the moratorium on sanctions at the end of 2022, since the start of 2023, the Jobcenters have resumed issuing more reductions in benefits. Despite this increase, the number of lawsuits filed came to 48,785, which is less than the amount received in 2022 (50,893).

Resolved appeals and lawsuits

In 2024, the Jobcenter processed and ruled on 422,201 appeals. Two thirds of these were either rejected or withdrawn by the welfare recipients themselves. The decision was changed for 137,013 appeals, most frequently because required documents that had not originally been provided were submitted or obligations to cooperate were fulfilled (62,194). The law was found to have incorrectly applied in 40,793 cases.
Last year, 57,014 lawsuits were ruled on by the courts. Of these, approximately 66 percent were dismissed or withdrawn, while approximately 34 percent resulted in a new decision.

Rate of appeals and lawsuits filed against Jobcenters operated as joint institutions low

The rate of appeals and lawsuits can only be determined for jointly-run Jobcenters* – i.e. Jobcenters that are operated jointly by the Federal Employment Agency and the local municipal authorities. In 2024, these Jobcenters issued approximately 19.7 million benefit decisions, in response to which 363,955 appeals and 39,199 lawsuits were filed. Compared with the previous year, the rate of appeals increased by 0.1 percentage points from 1.7 to 1.8 percent, while the rate of lawsuits remained unchanged at 0.2 percent.

The above figures are estimates, as a single decision can be challenged several times.

Wichtig:Important: notes for editors

• Two different organisational models apply to the Jobcenters in Germany. In the case of a “joint institution (gE)”, the Federal Employment Agency (BA) and the respective municipal authority work together and run the Jobcenter jointly. In 2024, 300 out of 404 Jobcenters were run in this way. Throughout Germany, 104 approved municipal authorities (zKTs) are themselves responsible for running the Jobcenters, i.e. without the involvement of the Federal Employment Agency.

• The figures stated in this press release are published for both types of institution, as the Jobcenters operated by the municipal authorities also provide the Federal Employment Agency with statistics on appeals and lawsuits according to defined criteria. The only exception is the paragraph on the rates of appeals and lawsuits: The Federal Employment Agency is only aware of the number of benefit decisions which have been issued by the joint institutions. For this reason, the calculated rates only take account of appeals and lawsuits received by the Jobcenters that are operated jointly. Statistical information on appeals and lawsuits is available online.