How does the German social appeals system work?
Hi everyone,
I’m from Denmark, where our system for appealing social welfare decisions is apperantly quite different from the German one. Among other things, appeals are almost exclusively focused on legal and procedural issues without actually assessing whether you are getting the help you need. Appeals are not processed by judges (but caseworkers) and can often take years. There is more to it, but by all accounts, it’s not the best legal framework in the world.
There is currently some political momentum in Denmark to change this, and Germany is being looked at quite closely as an example. We keep hearing that the German system has a high degree of legal specialisation, relatively short waiting times (sometimes quoted as around two weeks), and generally strong legal protection in social welfare appeals.
To be honest, that sounds almost too good to be true to me — although I know very little about the German system myself.
So I’d be really interested to hear from Germans who know about the Sozialgericht/Landessozialgericht (I think it’s called)? What is your experience with it in practice? How long do appeals actually take? Do you feel that the system provides good legal protection?
Thanks!