The German government has tightened its measures to combat fraud in the social benefits system. At its session today, Wednesday (September 23, 2026), the federal government approved an action plan that includes a set of measures that specifically target fraud in obtaining social benefits by immigrants coming from European Union countries. The plan aims to reduce these abuses by enhancing the exchange of data and information between the competent authorities, tightening oversight, and imposing more stringent rules. Among the new measures also includes stopping the payment of basic security benefits to persons wanted under valid arrest warrants.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote in a blog post on the X platform: “We must not exploit social welfare systems.” He added: "Through this action plan, we combat exploitation and abuse."
For his part, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said: “Criminal networks are trying to make the social state their prey. We respond to this with a firm plan of action against fraudsters of the social system and organized crime.”
As for Labor Minister Purple Bass, she stressed that “social assistance fraud harms society and undermines confidence in the social welfare state.”
According to the government, the exchange of data and information between different official departments will be improved to fill legal loopholes and detect fraudsters faster. Municipalities will also be given broader powers to deal with what is known as “dilapidated real estate,” while the people behind what is described as “organized exploitation” will be held more stringently accountable. It will also impose greater liability on employers who rely on employing workers illegally. These various measures are scheduled to be implemented by the end of the year, “within the framework of available financial appropriations and taking into account the existing financing powers of the federal government,” according to what was stated in the action plan prepared by the Ministries of Labor and the Interior.
Dobrindt considered that one of the “critical” elements in these amendments is the future exchange of data between the social, financial and security affairs authorities, adding: “What seems self-evident is not so in reality.”
Exchange of data and information
Under the new rules, the Central Register of Foreigners will be able to send immediate notifications to the entities responsible for disbursing benefits to immediately stop payments if they are suspected of being received illegally.
Government spokesman Stefan Cornelius emphasized that this is a complex legislative project, for example, regarding the exchange of data between authorities: “We are talking about data exchange between social welfare offices, foreigners’ affairs, registration offices, financial and security authorities, building authorities, health and welfare insurance funds, information from the central registry, etc.,” he said. This exchange has not been possible yet.
One of the most widespread fraud methods is based on organized networks bringing people suffering from poverty from the southeastern European member states of the European Union to Germany, housing them in dilapidated properties, providing them with fake employment contracts, and then collecting social benefits such as child benefit or housing benefit in their name.
While presenting the action plan, Leonie Gebres, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, said that there are people “who are crammed into dilapidated buildings and whose suffering and misery are exploited to obtain social benefits that often fall into the pockets of those behind criminal networks.”
The Ministry of Construction confirmed that combating so-called dilapidated properties may amount to expropriation “as a last resort,” and a spokesman said, “If buildings in neighborhoods remain abandoned for years, their facades are dilapidated, waste has accumulated, etc., this affects everyone.” Taking legal action against this phenomenon has been difficult for municipalities until now, but this situation must change.
Construction Minister Verena Huberts said that in the future, municipalities will be able to "more easily access neglected buildings, exercise the right of advance purchase more simply, and even resort to expropriation as a last option if the owner refuses to restore the property despite the orders of the authorities." She added that these properties "negatively affect not only the residents who live in them, but also the entire surrounding neighborhoods."
Criminal networks and front jobs
The new amendments will also allow in the future to deprive people wanted with arrest warrants of basic security benefits. According to the government, this especially includes convicts sentenced to prison sentences who avoid serving their sentence despite being officially summoned. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs confirmed that they will retain their right to the minimum basic care, but after they enter the penal institution to implement the sentence.
Interior Minister Dobrindt expressed his surprise that some fugitive criminals continue to receive social assistance until now, saying: “There is widespread and justified dissatisfaction with this situation, and we are in the process of ending it.”
The Ruhr region is one of the most prominent areas witnessing fraud crimes related to social assistance by immigrants coming from other countries in the European Union. This region is the home of Labor Minister Purple Bass, who represents the Duisburg district in the Federal Parliament. Since the beginning of her tenure, Bass had announced measures to combat this type of fraud, and held regular meetings with the affected municipalities.
The Federal Ministry of Social Affairs explained that "an increasing number of municipalities are reporting major problems linked to some groups of migrants coming from European Union countries." She added that these people are demanding social benefits based on the principle of freedom of movement within the European Union, but they “practice work on a very limited scale or are registered in fictitious jobs,” and they “possess only limited qualifications and linguistic knowledge.” At the same time, the ministry stressed that many recipients of these benefits “are themselves victims of organized criminal networks, similar in some aspects to human trafficking networks.”
In this context, the Federal Government Commissioner for Integration, Nathalie Pavlik, said that those who “undermine the freedom of movement of workers within the European Union through organized fraud on social benefits or through exploitative business models must be strictly held accountable.”
On the other hand, Pavlik stressed the importance of supporting immigrants coming from European Union countries at an early stage, enabling them to employ their skills and qualifications sustainably in the German labor market, stressing that this aspect is no less important than combating abuses.
Edited by: F.Y
