In 2024, the Jobcenters announced approximately 369,200 benefit sanctions, corresponding to an increase of 63.4 percent in comparison with the previous year. In total, approximately 185,600 people capable of work and currently in receipt of benefits were affected by a newly imposed benefit sanction in 2024. The annual average was just under 27,400, 44.8 percent more than in 2023.

Despite the increase, only a very small number of customers remain affected by sanctions. At the end of December 2024, only 0.8 percent of people capable of work and currently in receipt of benefits had been affected by at least one benefit sanction.

Failure to sign on the most frequent reason for benefit sanctions

86.3 percent of the benefit sanctions were imposed by the Jobcenters because of a failure to sign on, due to customers having missed their official appointment without providing an important reason for doing so. Last year, approximately 318,700 sanctions were due to a failure to sign on.

The Jobcenter announced some 23,400 sanctions due to refusal to take up or continue with a job, vocational training or participation in an integration programme. It is not possible to statistically assess whether a person has infringed his or her duty to participate in the integration process once or several times.

A benefit sanction can also be imposed if a person deliberately conceals their actual income and/or assets, or in the case of continued improvident conduct. If there is a suspension of benefits in the case of Unemployment Benefit I and/or if the conditions for this are met, the standard benefit payment can also be reduced. In total, the above-mentioned points accounted for approximately 17,100 benefit sanctions in 2024.

In 2024, the average sanction amounted to 7.8 percent of the benefit payment, or 62 euros.
The Jobcenter refrains from imposing benefit sanctions if the affected person provides an important reason for their failure to comply with the rules. These include illness or force majeure, for example. The imposing of benefit sanctions is also waived in special cases of hardship.

The standard rate can be reduced to 0 euros

The amount of the benefit sanction is staggered and is always based on the standard support requirement. In the case of a one-off sanction, the benefits are reduced by 10 percent for one month; in the case of continued breaches of duty they are reduced by 20 percent for two months and 30 percent for three months. The sanctions are lifted if customers fulfil their obligation to cooperate again or they make a solemn and binding agreement to do so in the future.

If the Jobcenter has already imposed a benefit sanction and the customer fails to take up a reasonable job offer, a full reduction in the standard benefit payment can also be imposed.