Press material and social media

The Future of the Welfare State Congress is the key working congress for the reform and modernisation of social security in Germany. It links the political debate on benefits, funding and social reliability with the organisational, legal and technological requirements for their implementation.

The focus is on statutory social insurance schemes as the operational backbone of the welfare state. However, the congress does not view them in isolation, but rather in conjunction with tax-funded benefits, labour market policy, local authorities, service providers and the state’s digital infrastructure. In doing so, it takes account of the reality of a welfare state whose benefits, whilst organised within different systems, remain closely interlinked in terms of reform issues.

The conference brings together representatives from politics, social insurance, self-government, public administration, academia, the social economy and technology. Together, they analyse reform proposals, identify conflicting objectives and examine which changes are politically viable, financially sustainable in the long term and practicable.

Key topics include:

• the long-term financial sustainability of social security,
• the distribution of the burden between contributors and taxpayers, as well as between generations,
• the reorganisation of responsibilities and funding channels,
• the relationship between politics and self-governance,
• the simplification of benefits and administrative procedures,
• the use of shared data, registers and digital infrastructure,
• automated and application-free benefits,
• prevention, labour market participation and securing a skilled workforce.

The Future Congress’s particular aim lies in combining systemic reform with the realities of implementation. It asks not only how the welfare state should be structured in future, but also what structures, processes, competences and technical foundations are required to ensure that reforms actually take effect.

The Congress does not advocate any predefined reform model. It creates a framework within which different proposals can be compared, interdependencies made visible and concrete next steps developed. The Congress is complemented by the Welfare State Modernisation Monitor, which regularly examines how reform projects are assessed in practice by those responsible, where progress is evident, and which prerequisites for successful implementation are still lacking.

The next Future of the Welfare State Congress will take place on 25 and 26 November 2026 in Berlin.