Since the beginning of 2023, the Federal Employment Agency (BA) has been exchanging data electronically with the statutory health insurance schemes. Customers applying for unemployment benefits do not have to obtain paper certificates (for instance on receiving sickness benefits) from their health insurance scheme any more and present it with the BA. Also, paper certificates on membership are no longer necessary, since the health insurance schemes automatically report their customers’ membership to the BA.

Dr. Markus Schmitz, BA’s CIO, says: “The cooperation between the BA, the statutory health insurance schemes and shortly Deutsche Rentenversicherung [German Pension Insurance] is another major step in the digital cooperation between authorities. This is not only easier for the citizens, because part of the statutory obligations to provide evidence no longer applies, it also saves them time and money. It is not the customers who should move, but their processes and data. Electronically retrieving data between social security institutions takes us much closer to a fully digital and automated unemployment benefit process .”  

As of July 2023, Deutsche Rentenversicherung will also become part of the data exchange procedure. The two authorities will then settle any existing claims for refunds electronically with each other. 

From January 2024, the BA will also be legally allowed to retrieve incapacity to work certificates of customers of the Federal Employment Agency from the health insurance schemes. Until then, customers of the agencies will continue to have to present an incapacity to work certificate if they are sick or unable to work. 

Wichtig:Based on the 7th amending law SGB [German Social Security Code] IV, the legislator created new legal bases to promote the digital cooperation between social security institutions. The preconditions required for this were created in 2022 together with the social security institutions as part of the EDA-BE project (electronic data exchange - certificates and refunds).