The new Federal Representatives’ Assembly of the German Pension Insurance was constituted on 5 October 2023. The assembly’s 60 members make decisions on matters common to the German pension institutions. Uwe Hildebrandt representing the insured persons was elected as Chair and Heribert Jöris representing the employers was elected as Deputy Chair. The election of the 22 members of the German Pension Insurance’s Federal Board also took place in 2023. It is headed by Chair Alexander Gunkel (representing the employers) and Anja Piel (representing the insured persons) as his deputy. Both self-government bodies alternate their chairs and deputy chairs annually on 1 October. The constitution of the self-government bodies represents the beginning of the 13th term of office for the Federal Representatives’ Assembly and the German Pension Insurance’s Federal Board. The term of office for members is six years and it ends when the new board and assembly are constituted after the next election in 2029.
More women in self-government bodies
One key objective of the 2023 election was to increase the proportion of women in the social security institutions’ self-government bodies – and it was achieved. Compared to the 2017 election, the proportion of women representing insured persons rose from 26.8 to 44.9 per cent, and the proportion of women representing employers increased from 17.4 to 40.2 per cent.
On behalf of contributors and pensioners
The German social security system’s self-government model is based on the insight that contributors and pensioners should have decision-making authority on matters affecting them. In other words, the representatives in the self-government bodies of the health, accident and pension insurance providers determine their institutions’ policies to the legally permitted extent, thus ensuring the stability of Germany’s social welfare systems. They adopt budgets and make decisions on matters relating to finances, human resources, benefits, organisation and rehabilitation. Last but not least, the self-government bodies make an important contribution to the political debate.
“The self-government bodies can only be strong if they represent a cross-section of society. The higher percentage of women members sends out an important signal about the necessity of female representation in self-government.”
Getting down to work
A new term of office also began for the German Pension Insurance’s newly elected honorary advisers and honorary senior advisers to the insured. These people provide expert advice to insured persons and pensioners in their neighbourhood, accept pension applications and help to fill out forms. The members of the Appeals Committees were also newly elected. These committees review pension insurance decisions as necessary and help to reduce the number of lawsuits filed.
