Pensions and life certificates in general

1.1 Recipients of a regular German state pension

If you are entitled to German pension payments under the statutory pension scheme or the statutory accident insurance scheme and supplementary pension schemes, you will be asked once a year to provide proof of life. You will be asked to do this each time you receive your pension adjustment notification.

Following the introduction of electronic cross-checking of death data between Germany and the United Kingdom, the German state pension scheme (Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund) generally no longer requires people living in the United Kingdom and drawing a German state pension to submit a life certificate. However, a life certificate may still be required in certain individual cases.

Pensioners are notified directly by the pension provider in the accompanying letter if a life certificate is required. So, if you have received a pension adjustment notification and a life certificate form was not enclosed, then a life certificate is not required this year, and you do not need to do anything.

If, on the other hand, the pensions authority asks you to submit a life certificate, from 2024 your annual proof of life can be submitted either digitally or in paper form. We recommend that you use the digital process. For further information about both procedures, please visit the website of the German pension service:

www.rentenservice.de/LB (paper life certificate)

www.rentenservice.de/DLN (digital proof of life)

Please note: A life certificate has to be certified by an authorised institution. You can have this done at:

• Priest’s office or rabbinate
• National branch of the Seliger-Gemeinde
• German YMCA
• German Welfare Council
• Association of Jewish Refugees
• Red Cross

Alternatively, you can have it certified at one of the German diplomatic missions.

If you would like to visit the Embassy, please book an appointment with the legalisation desk.

If you would like to have your life certificate certified at the Consulate General in Edinburgh, please book an appointment here.

If you would like to have your life certificate certified at a German Honorary Consulate, please contact the honorary consul for your area directly.

Once the life certificate has been authenticated, the pension beneficiary must send it back to the pension service. The address to send it to can be found in Part B of the life certificate. It is important that you send the original of the life certificate.

Authentication of a life certificate for pension purposes is free of charge, except for company pensions or supplementary pensions, for example from private or foreign pension plans. There is a fee to pay for these.

1.2 Persons receiving pensions from other pension providers

Please note that the procedures described above only apply to the state pensions mentioned.

The rules regarding life certificates and pension payments may be different for other pension providers (e.g. occupational or private pension schemes). If you have a pension of this kind, please contact your pension provider directly for details of the current procedure. In this case, a fee of €34.07* is payable when you have your life certificate authenticated by one of Germany’s diplomatic missions or honorary consuls.

* You can pay either in cash in pounds sterling (the exact amount depends on the exchange rate) or by credit card (Visa/MasterCard). If you pay by card, the fee will be charged in euros.

Reparation pensions and payments

The work of making reparations for National Socialist wrongs is a high priority for the Federal Government and Länder.

2.1 Federal Government guidelines regarding transitional payments to surviving spouses of victims of National Socialist injustice who, until their death, received regular payments under the Federal Compensation Act (Bundesentschädigungsgesetz – BEG)

These guidelines came into effect on 27 April 2021.

Under these guidelines, surviving spouses of victims of National Socialist injustice who died after 1 January 2020 and who, until their death, received regular payments under the Federal Compensation Act are entitled to receive payments upon request for a transitional period of nine months after the death of their spouse. The payment amount is based on the minimum pension under the Federal Compensation Act.

The Recognition Payments Working Group (Arbeitsgruppe Anerkennungsleistungen) at the Federal Office for Central Services and Property Issues (Bundesamt für zentrale Dienste und offene Vermögensfragen - BADV) is responsible for implementing these guidelines.

For life certificates filed by BEG pension recipients with the federal state reparation authorities, the requirements set out in the notes on the back of the form apply.

If, in your case, providing proof of life is problematic, please contact your compensation authority immediately.

2.2 Recipients of pensions under ZRBG (Ghetto Pensions Act)

On 1 August 2014, the 1st amendment to the Act on the Payment of Pensions from Employment in a Ghetto (ZRBG) came into force, which improves the legal status of persons who were employed in a ghetto under the National Socialist regime. The changes affect both existing ZRBG pensions and new applications.

Further information and publications can be found on the websites of the Federal Ministry of Finance and Deutsche Rentenversicherung.

2.3. Compensation for non-Jewish victims of persecution

As part of its reparations for National Socialist injustice, the Federal Government awards payments to persons of non-Jewish descent who were persecuted under the Nazi regime on racial, political, ideological or religious grounds. Information regarding the rules on compensation for Nazi injustice can be found on the website of the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Other useful links:

https://www.archivportal-d.de/themenportale/wiedergutmachung?lang=en

https://www.badv.bund.de/EN/UnresolvedPropertyIssues/PaymentInRecognitionOfGhettoWork/start.html