Statistics of basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity
What does the statistics of basic security describe?
On 1 January 2003, the "law on needs-oriented basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity" (GSiG) came into force. That social benefit law provides for a separate social benefit for older persons and for persons with permanently reduced earning capacity, which covers the basic living expenses. The benefits of basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity are to contribute to limiting the "shame-faced poverty". Especially older people often do not claim public assistance, although they are entitled to receive it, because they are afraid that their children who are liable for maintenance would have to pay. The GSiG comes before the federal law on public assistance, so that entitled persons generally do not have to claim continuous subsistence as part of public assistance.
The impact of that law and its need for further development are to be assessed through statistical means. For that purpose, surveys are conducted both of the recipients and of the expenditure and receipts of needs-oriented basic security to produce relevant federal statistics. In this way, politics, administration, businesses, the scientific community and the general public obtain detailed information on basic security benefits granted by the government and an important data basis for further planning and decision-making.
How are the data of the statistics of basic security determined?
The statistics of basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity is a decentralised statistics, that is the Federal Statistical Office prepares the organisation and technology, while the statistical offices of the Länder collect the data and process them to produce statistical results. It is a secondary statistics, that is existing administrative data are also used for statistical purposes.
The legal basis for the statistics of basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity is Article 8 of the GSiG. The data of the statistics of basic security are collected among the basic security institutions. Such basic security institutions are the towns not attached to a Kreis and the Landkreise (administrative districts) or the non-local institutions such as regional welfare associations, regional municipal associations or Bezirke (administrative regions).
For reference day 31 December of any year, the survey of recipients of basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity is conducted as a stock survey (complete enumeration). There is a wide range of variables covered: Detailed data on the level and duration of receipt of benefits are covered in addition to traditional person-related and socio-demographic basic data (sex, year of birth, citizenship, and so on). Also, the statistics provides information on the reason for granting benefits and on the type of income indicated by the persons entitled to benefits.
The survey of expenditure and receipts of basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity is conducted annually for the past calendar year as a complete enumeration, too. It provides comprehensive and reliable data on the financial and social effects of the law on basic security. The expenditure made for basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity is the total of amounts paid by basic security institutions to persons entitled to benefits. On the expenditure side, a distinction is made between whether or not recipients live in institutions (for example nursing homes or old people’s homes). Such separate coverage is also performed for the receipts of basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity. Receipts are payments received by basic security institutions due to claims for reimbursements towards other social benefit institutions. This is the case, for example, if a basic security recipient is entitled to housing allowances but has not yet requested such allowances: The basic security institution may include the total amount of accommodation costs into the calculation of the net claim for basic security and may then get the amount of housing allowances reimbursed by the authority responsible for housing allowances.
What is also covered is the number of expert opinions and the costs of such expert opinions, which are prepared by the pension insurance institutions to assess the degree of earning capacity reduction.
When are the results of the statistics of basic security released?
Key data of that statistics were published through a press release for the first time in December 2004, about one year after the survey had been conducted. What is available is not only federal results but also manifold results for the Länder, which are released by the statistical offices of the Länder.
For follow-up processing activities of the Federation, the statistical offices of the Länder provide the Federal Statistical Office in addition with annual individual data from the statistics of recipients with a sampling fraction of 25 percent ("25% sample survey"). Compared with the standard tables, that data source allows to perform more in-depth analyses of the receipt of basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity.
How accurate is the statistics of basic security?
The statistics of basic security in old age and in cases of reduced earning capacity is produced on the basis of a complete enumeration and, consequently, has high informative value. To ensure good quality, comprehensive plausibility checks are regularly performed.
