Manuelle Verification und Lebensbestätigung (Life Certificate) Verzögerungen

Key Findings

• Financial Impact: Estimated €30-80 million annually in verification labor and payment suspension delays: (a) Annual Life Certificate issuance/processing: 2-4 million beneficiaries abroad × €5-15 per verification/mailing cycle = €10-60 million in postal and administrative labor; (b) Payment suspension delays: 5-15% of certificates not returned on time = 100,000-600,000 beneficiaries with suspended payments × €500-2,000 average benefit backlog = €50-1,200 million in suspended liquidity (not lost, but deferred 4-12 weeks); (c) Manual escalation labor: 20-50 hours per unresolved case × 100,000 cases = 2-5 million manual escalation hours annually (valued at €30-75 million at €15/hour); (d) Opportunity cost of payment delays: 4-12 week suspension × 5% unclaimed/abandoned benefit abandonment rate = €5-50 million unclaimed benefits annually.
• Frequency: Annual—affects 2-4 million German pensioners abroad (Deutsche Rentenversicherung serves 56+ million pensioners; ~5% live abroad). Recurring: every beneficiary must be verified every 12 months.
• Root Cause: No real-time death registry data-sharing with 180+ countries. Deutsche Post relies on manual postal return of Life Certificates. Recipients may be elderly, infirm, or in remote locations with unreliable mail service. No digital alternative (e-signature, video verification) exists. Manual document scanning and queue-based processing creates capacity constraints.