The digital ecosystem for Germany’s public employment and social protection services: laying the foundations for a modern, connected and citizen-centred administration

• I. Background and remit
• II. From vision to implementation
• III. Continuous implementation
• IV. Summary

I. Background and remit

In January 2026, the Commission on Welfare State Reform published its final report, in which it presented a comprehensive reform proposal for modern and efficient public employment and social protection services. In Chapter IV, titled “Digitalisation and Modernisation of the Administration”, the final report addresses key areas for action, with a view to consistently driving forward the digitalisation of Germany’s public employment and social protection services and ensuring that the welfare state is more aligned with people’s life circumstances. Digital access will enable citizens to find welfare benefits and services more easily and in one place, and to deal with the entire process, from the application to the decision. Where legally permissible, data that is already available will be used so that users do not have to provide the same information repeatedly and resubmit the same supporting evidence. Digital support and responsible use of artificial intelligence will help to make the submission and processing of applications simpler, faster and more efficient.

The public employment and social protection services have a special role to play, because subsistence protection, social assistance and participation make a significant contribution to social cohesion.

The Expert Panel on Digitalisation of Welfare State Reform was established on 20 May 2026, based on a recommendation made by the Commission on Welfare State Reform, with the participation of the Federation, the Länder (Germany’s states) and the municipal umbrella organisations. We, the stakeholders represented on the Expert Panel, are working together to lay the groundwork for the implementation of the recommendations on digitalisation, and to structure and support the implementation process. With this roadmap, we are presenting an objective-oriented and outcome-based framework for implementing the recommendations contained in Chapter IV.

The roadmap comprises the joint vision set out in the following sections, the strategic groundwork and the determinations that have already been made, as well as the timeline included as an annex. The timeline provides more detail about upcoming determinations, issues to be explored and implementation steps, and will be updated as the process moves forward.

II. From vision to implementation

A great deal of progress has already been made on digitalisation in the public employment and social protection services. Particularly with regard to access to online services, the Federation, the Länder, the municipalities and social security institutions have developed viable forms of cooperation. However, there are still differences in terms of the scope and the level of use of the various services, and in the progress made towards end-to-end technical solutions. Easy to understand, efficient and end-to-end digital services are therefore needed for social benefits and services throughout Germany.

The next stage of development will connect existing solutions, develop components that are currently lacking, and roll them out nationwide. To this end, based on the recommendations produced by the Commission on Welfare State Reform, we are developing a joint vision for the digital ecosystem. It includes the digital services and specialist back-office applications that are relevant for implementation, as well as platforms, infrastructures, data, standards, legal frameworks, governance and the stakeholders involved. This will create a common guiding framework for future developments.

In implementing the recommendations produced by the Commission on Welfare State Reform, we are pursuing three objectives. Achievement of these objectives will be measured using suitable qualitative and quantitative criteria. There will be a particular focus on acceptance of digital services and their contribution to the productivity and efficiency of the public employment and social protection services. The criteria will be fleshed out further in the course of implementation planning.

To achieve this, all relevant services that the public employment and social protection services offer citizens are to be made available in a fully digital form that is easy to understand. This provision will be expanded step by step, with the focus being on benefiting the public. Service audits will be conducted to measure usability, ease of understanding, error recovery and successful task completion, using suitable normal market criteria. The aim is to cut down on the amount of information that citizens have to submit repeatedly, the number of supporting documents that they have to resubmit, and the number of administrative formalities involved in accessing benefits and services. While people focus on dealing with their individual life circumstances, the state will work together across organisational boundaries to provide targeted support.

This cannot be achieved through user-friendly digital access on its own, however. On the back end, it also needs to be possible to process services and benefits seamlessly, efficiently and across organisations. This gives rise to Objective 2:

To achieve this, end-to-end digital support is to be provided for processes ranging from application submissions, queries and submission of supporting evidence, to the decision and service delivery. The yardstick for this is seamless end-to-end processing (reflecting maturity level 5 in the Online Access Act (Onlinezugangsgesetz) maturity model). Standardised process and data models, compatible specialist back-office applications and secure data exchange will allow step-by-step scaling up to the national level.

Supplementary in-person and hybrid advisory services in digital form will remain available, reflecting people’s varying needs.

Fully digital end-to-end services require digital access points and specialist back-office applications to be seamlessly connected with one another and to be able to exchange necessary data securely. Achieving this objective thus requires more than just the digitalisation of individual processes. The digital ecosystem brings together the stakeholders involved, their digital services and specialist back-office applications, as well as platforms, infrastructures, data, and common, compatible standards. This will enable a cross-organisation approach to service delivery, and allow existing solutions to be incorporated, shared and developed further. Objective 3 builds on this:

To achieve this, the stakeholders involved will connect existing platforms and infrastructures and, where necessary, develop shared or compatible components. They will be operated productively and securely, and continuously upgraded. The incorporation of platforms, infrastructures and other components into the digital ecosystem will take place in accordance with clear and proportionate requirements, particularly with regard to sovereignty, IT security, interoperability and performance. Cooperation will be subject to binding strategic, legal and organisational requirements.

The basis for this is active cooperation among the stakeholders involved in the public employment and social protection services. This includes open interfaces, shared digital infrastructures, binding standards, secure data exchange within a framework that offers legal certainty, modernised registers, a digital-ready legal framework, efficient administrative structures, organisational governance mechanisms and nationwide cooperation. The design and implementation will be centred around end-to-end digital processes and public acceptance. Specialised requirements and the respective roles of the stakeholders involved will be considered. The agencies tasked with the administration of services will work in modern administrative structures and leverage synergies and economies of scale by pooling back-office tasks. We are structuring and supporting the implementation of the recommendations made by the Commission on Welfare State Reform, and coordinating them with the reform of a unified social benefit system, modernisation and digitalisation of specialist systems by the Federation, the Länder and the municipalities, and existing and planned digitalisation projects.

III. Continuous implementation

The digitalisation process is being implemented on a continuous basis. The following section of this document is structured on the basis of the recommendations produced by the Commission on Welfare State Reform. Upcoming determinations, issues to be explored and implementation steps are set out in a timeline, which is enclosed as an annex.

At the Expert Panel’s meeting on 15 July 2026, we already took an initial key decision: in future, the digital social portal will be the central gateway for citizens to access the digital services offered by the public employment and social protection services. The existing Social Platform will be developed into a one-stop shop. We are thus continuing to develop an established digital solution while also creating a starting point for suitable governance structures. We are building on the existing governance structure for the Social Platform, which is being transferred to the newly established Federal Government-Länder Working Group on Digitalisation of the Public Employment and Social Protection Services, based on a decision taken by the Conference of Labour and Social Affairs Ministers in July 2026. This Federal Government-Länder Working Group has been tasked with supporting the implementation of the recommendations produced by the Commission on Welfare State Reform and the subsequent transformation process, implementing the Online Access Act and register modernisation, and driving forward standardisation of specialised systems. The road ahead has thus already been determined for the joint transformation process. The work of the Federal Government-Länder Working Group and that of the Expert Panel are to be closely coordinated as the process moves forward. The exact distribution of responsibilities and future forms of cooperation will be firmed up as the Federal Government-Länder Working Group is established.

The existing Social Platform will form the basis for the step-by-step development of a central digital point of access to the ecosystem of the public employment and social protection services. It should make it easier for the public to access relevant welfare benefits and services, and complement existing websites and digital services, including those offered by social security institutions. The further development of the portal will be geared to producing tangible benefits for citizens and for the agencies and authorities involved. Determining the service portfolio, integrating joint procedures and connecting specialist back-office applications, data sources and supporting evidence will take place step by step.

The timeline sets out the next steps in upgrading the Social Platform: from determining an initial service portfolio, to expanding the services step by step and integrating additional components, including use of the Deutschland-Stack and its basic components (such as the EUDI wallet), domain-agnostic components and central points of access (the Deutschland app).

Fully digital end-to-end services require digital access points and specialist back-office applications to be seamlessly connected with one another and to be able to exchange necessary data securely. This is addressed by the implementation of Recommendation 20. In collaboration with staff members with functional and technical responsibility, we will ascertain what data and interface standards are necessary for which use cases and how their reliable use can be achieved. To enable agencies and specialist back-office applications to be connected, use cases will be identified for specific domains, suitable implementation pathways will be developed, and options will be assessed for providing digital support and combining procedures, for example by means of a digital back office. In the short term, common minimum requirements, reference interfaces and support services are to be promoted, where that is possible in the existing legal framework. Building on a consistently user-centric approach, the requirements of the public and the administration throughout the entire end-to-end process will be ascertained. The “reuse before build” principle will apply: existing D-Stack specifications and standards and products that have already been implemented successfully will be systematically integrated. At the same time, the insights gained and the requirements identified will feed into the design of an overarching governance structure, which will define binding standards, clear roles and responsibilities, and decision-making channels for data processing throughout the end-to-end process.

As the timeline sets out, the necessary data and interface standards will first be determined on the basis of specific user journeys. Building on this, the necessary regulations will be developed to ensure mandatory, compatible and reusable implementation.

The aim is to ensure that citizens do not have to repeatedly submit the same information and supporting evidence. To achieve this, the relevant agencies must have the legal certainty to be able to reuse data. Recommendations 21 and 22 seek to make the existing legal framework for the once-only principle usable in practice, and to continue to develop the necessary technical and organisational foundations for this, as well as additional legal foundations where necessary. Transparency, data minimisation and data processing traceability will remain guiding principles in this context.

Building on existing regulations and legal changes that have already been introduced, a review will be conducted, in collaboration with practitioners, to examine how they are working in practice and what additional adjustments are necessary for digital-ready social security data protection and improved data exchange, in particular via the National Once-Only Technical System (NOOTS) and FIT-Connect.

The timeline therefore focuses on the steps that are still to be taken: additional regulations on automated retrieval of supporting evidence, further steps to shape a digital-ready approach to social security data protection, the connection of other relevant registers, and potentially an expansion in the scope of the identification number.

With regard to Recommendation 24, we will explore what specialised, legal and technical obstacles currently stand in the way of integrated hybrid counselling. The aim is to combine digital and in-person counselling services in a way which enables citizens to access the appropriate support more easily and avoid unnecessary administrative formalities. We will examine which digital access points or platform functions can make a practical contribution to this, based on suitable use cases.

Recommendations 23 and 25 combine responsible use of new technologies with a digital-ready approach to legislation and administration. In particular, this includes suitable methods and AI applications, such as rulemapping, Law as Code, KIPITZ and SPARK, as well as a tailored digital-readiness check to assess the new unified benefits system. These approaches will be trialled using specific use cases; their benefits, risks and legal preconditions will be assessed, and if that assessment is positive, they will gradually be transitioned to further development and use.

The timeline links these trials to specific decision points: first, suitable AI use cases and potential legal adjustments will be examined. In parallel, rulemapping or similar methods will be incorporated in preparing appropriate legal regulations, the possibilities of utilising Law as Code will be examined, and the lessons learned from existing trial formats will be taken into account. Based on this, further measures will be identified.

Artificial intelligence can play a role in supporting administrative processes, cutting processing times, freeing staff up from suitable routine activities, and leveraging efficiencies. In this context, we will harness the innovative strength of startups, the integrative potential of hubs and networks, such as the Agentic AI Hub, and the state’s role as an anchor customer. Key guiding principles for the use of AI include a clear benefit in the specific context, assessment of the potential risks, legal certainty, data protection, and responsible design.

IV. Summary

The digitalisation of Germany’s public employment and social protection services is a key requirement for a high-performing, citizen-centred welfare state that is fit for the future. With this roadmap, we are presenting a common framework for the ongoing implementation of the recommendations produced by the Commission on Welfare State Reform. Existing solutions and experiences provide the basis for upgrading digital services, connecting them and rolling them out nationwide.

The roadmap sets out the joint vision, the strategic groundwork and the current implementation status. The timeline provides a rolling overview of implementation planning. It specifies upcoming determinations, issues to be explored and expansion steps, as well as the envisaged timeframes, and is transparent about what decisions are still to be taken. As the process moves forward, the timeline will be fleshed out, reviewed regularly and updated. Implementation will be geared to making a demonstrable contribution to acceptance of digital services and the productivity and efficiency of the public employment and social protection services. The implementation and further development of the digital ecosystem are long-term tasks that will continue even after the Expert Panel has concluded its work.