Unemployment Benefit II
Internal report from the employment agency shows deficiencies in Hartz IV
Around 3.69 million people in Germany receive Hartz IV, but there are said to be numerous shortcomings in the payment (symbolic photo)
© Oliver Berg / DPA
According to an internal audit of the employment agency, there should be a number of shortcomings in the payment of Hartz IV benefits. It’s about poor placement of long-term unemployed and procedural problems with contradictions to Hartz IV decisions.
According to a media report, an internal audit by the Federal Employment Agency has revealed numerous deficiencies in the payment of Hartz IV benefits. In the internal report “Vertical Revisions in 2020” available to them, the auditors criticized, among other things, the poor placement of long-term unemployed and procedural problems with contradictions to Hartz IV decisions, the “Bild” newspaper reported on Monday.
For example, the job placement service “was not effective in more than half of the cases”. In 56 percent of the cases examined, job centers had not succeeded in increasing job opportunities. A problem is often the lack of communication with those affected, reported “Bild”.
Criticism also of contradictions against Hartz IV notices
The newspaper also quoted from the report that so-called integration services were often “not used in a targeted manner”. The payments were “not based on the individual needs” of the unemployed and were therefore “ineffective and inefficient”.
According to “Bild”, the revision also examined 234 contradictions against Hartz IV decisions. In many cases, those affected had no opportunity to express themselves, although this is required. Only 29 percent of the contradictions were decided on time.