Abstract

With the introduction of the citizen’s income (Bürgergeld), trust and transparency in the relation between benefit recipients and jobcentres should be strengthened. Among other things, this is to be achieved by replacing the previous back-to-work agreement with a so-called cooperation plan. In the cooperation plan, jobcentres and benefit recipients are to record jointly agreed goals and define what steps are necessary to achieve them. Unlike the back-to-work agreement, the cooperation plan does not provide a legal basis for reducing benefits. The project examines the role of the cooperation plan in counselling practice in jobcentres. This includes questions about the design of the cooperation plan and how it is handled in the encounter between jobcentre staff and benefit recipients. What goals are set and how are they defined? How are the benefit recipients' own efforts and the support services provided by the jobcentres discussed? What is the role of the cooperation plan in the encounter? In order to answer these questions, encounters between jobcentre staff and benefit recipients will be observed. Based on the results, conclusions will be drawn about the framework conditions of trust and transparency in the relation between benefit recipients and jobcentres as well as the role that the cooperation plan plays for this.