Every Jobcenter warning was wiped on 1 July — missed-appointment counting restarted from zero, and the second miss now costs 30 percent
Anyone claiming basic income support in Germany began July with a clean record at their Jobcenter, whether they knew it or not. When the Grundsicherung replaced the Bürgergeld on 1 July 2026, the law drew a line under everything before it: a missed appointment recorded up to 30 June no longer counts as a previous violation when the new, harsher penalties are applied. The Federal Employment Agency has confirmed this and has written it into its official instructions to staff on the relevant section of the social code.
The reason is constitutional rather than generous. German law bars retroactive punishment. Someone who skipped an appointment in May was warned about the consequences that existed in May, and can only be penalised on that basis. Applying the new counting to old absences would produce decisions that courts would strike down. Penalties already imposed under the old rules are still being enforced — they simply do not feed into the new tally.
What that tally looks like matters, because it is far steeper than the system it replaced. The old graduated scale of 10, 20 and 30 percent is gone. Miss a first appointment without a valid reason and nothing is deducted. Miss a second and 30 percent of the standard rate is withheld for a month. Miss a third, or become persistently unreachable, and the standard rate can stop altogether. Housing and heating costs and health insurance contributions continue through that first month, and if you report to the office in person within it, the decision is reversed. Turning down reasonable work or a training place carries 30 percent for three months.
The practical point is the counting. If a reduction letter arrives and its reasoning rests on an appointment you missed before 1 July, that decision may be wrong. You have one month from notification to object in writing. Ask the Jobcenter which specific missed appointments the decision is based on — it should be set out in the reasoning and in the earlier correspondence — and check that none of them fall before July.