Both major German social welfare organizations, VdK and SoVD, are pushing for the inclusion of civil servants within the statutory pension insurance (GRV) as part of the federal government’s pending pension reforms, arguing that current recommendations from the Age Security Commission lack necessary revisions.
Verena Bentele, president of VdK, stated that integrating civil servants is a matter of fairness. She argued that if the goal is to bolster public confidence in the national pension system, all employed individuals must contribute to the social solidarity fund. According to Bentele, it is outdated that civil servants maintain external arrangements that typically grant them significantly higher benefits than the average retiree. Financially, she noted that economic experts estimate that bringing future civil servants into the system would ease the burden on the pension funds well into the 2070s.
Similarly, the Sozialverband Deutschland (SoVD) has renewed its demand for this inclusion. Michaela Engelmeier, the SoVD’s chairwoman, criticized the Age Security Commission for ignoring the status of civil servants in its final ruling. She emphasized that by having all workers contribute-including the self-employed, parliament members, members of professional occupational schemes, and civil servants-the pension system would become more solidary.
The SoVD believes this change is crucial not just for financial stability, but especially for the social sustainability of the pension system. Engelmeier explained that universal contributions strengthen acceptance, justice, and solidarity. Furthermore, it allows for precise redistribution within the system. Currently, it is difficult to conduct broad redistributions-such as shifting resources from high-benefit to low-benefit recipients-because low pensions are not necessarily correlated with low incomes when everyone is not within a unified system.
Engelmeier concluded by reiterating that universal public insurance (Bürgerversicherung) has been a key decades-long agenda item for the SoVD. She stressed that the pension commission should have recommended developing the statutory pension into a universal employment insurance structure that officially includes civil servants.
