🤝 Cooperation plan (formerly integration agreement)
In brief
Many people still search for “Eingliederungsvereinbarung” – since the Bürgergeld Act (1.1.2023) this instrument is called “Kooperationsplan” and is regulated in § 15 SGB II. It is drawn up together with your contact person at the Jobcenter on the basis of a potential analysis, records goals and mutual commitments and is updated as needed. Unlike before, the cooperation plan is in principle not an administrative act against which you lodge an objection – ideally it comes about by consensus.
Step by step
- Potential analysisTogether with the Jobcenter, your strengths, qualifications and obstacles to placement are recorded.
- Set goalsYou and the Jobcenter record what you will do (e.g. job applications, courses) and what the Jobcenter provides in return (e.g. placement, cost coverage).
- Sign the cooperation plan or raise objectionsYou can voice concerns about individual points; if no agreement is reached, the Jobcenter can set the content by administrative act.
- Review regularlyThe cooperation plan is as a rule reviewed and updated together every 6 months.
Deadlines
- Even if the cooperation plan itself is usually not an administrative act: individual obligations (e.g. a summons to report or an integration measure) can be set as a separate administrative act and can then be challenged on their own with an objection (Widerspruch).
- Whether the 2026 reform has made the cooperation plan more binding is debated in practice; a formal return to the administrative-act character is not confirmed in the statutory text – if in doubt, have the exact legal nature of your specific agreement explained to you.
- Failing to attend appointments connected with the cooperation plan can be sanctioned as a missed appointment (Meldeversäumnis), regardless of the nature of the agreement.
In depth · legal basis, figures and practice – for advisers and professionals
From administrative act to agreement
Until the end of 2022 the agreement between the Jobcenter and the person entitled to benefits was called “Eingliederungsvereinbarung” (integration agreement) and in practice was often designed as an administrative act. With the Bürgergeld Act (in force since 1.1.2023) it was replaced by the cooperatively designed “Kooperationsplan” (§ 15 SGB II). Research on the legal position as of September 2026 confirms: the Thirteenth SGB II Amendment Act (BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 107) did not rename § 15 SGB II back from its title “Potenzialanalyse und Kooperationsplan” and made no express statutory return to the administrative-act character.
Press reports and practitioners point in 2026 to a de facto tightening of the binding nature; as things stand this is not verified by a clear statutory amendment and is therefore expressly marked here as disputed / not officially confirmed, rather than presented as established law.
Content
The cooperation plan records, among other things: the goals of integration, the efforts of the person entitled to benefits (e.g. number and type of applications), the Jobcenter’s services (e.g. placement offers, cost coverage for applications or travel, access to qualification) and an understanding of the consequences of breaches of duty.
Legal protection
Since the cooperation plan itself is regularly not an administrative act, it cannot in principle be challenged separately with an objection. However, if a specific obligation (e.g. participation in a particular measure) is set by a separate administrative act because no agreement was reached, the normal time limits for legal remedies apply (objection within one month, § 84 SGG).
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