The Social Payment Card: Digitalisation of Public Benefits and Its Consequences
09/30/2026Since August 2026, the Social Payment Card for refugees has also been issued in Berlin, meaning it is now in place nationwide. It is intended to digitalise the disbursement of social benefits and simplify administrative processes, but at the same time it determines how people can access their own money: how much cash they may withdraw, whether they can transfer money, and what and where the card can be used for.
What does this mean for the people who depend on these benefits? What restrictions does the social payment card actually impose, and what does this tell us about the digitalisation of public administration and the relationship between technology, politics and fundamental rights?
On 15 October 2026 at the Weizenbaum Institute, Sarah Lincoln (Society for Civil Rights, GFF), Judy Mbiyu (Women in Exile), Emily Barnickel (Refugee Council Berlin) and Weizenbaum researcher Alexandra Keiner will address these questions, each from their own perspective.
Alexandra Keiner of the Weizenbaum Institute: "The payment card shows that digitalising public services does not automatically mean greater participation or self-determination. It combines digital administration with migration policy goals of control, restriction and deterrence. This is precisely why we need to ask whose options for action are expanded by digitalisation, and whose are restricted."
The discussion will focus on the panellists' experiences with the social payment card and how they place it within current migration policy. The event takes place at the same time as the Smart Country Convention, which looks at the potential of digital technologies for modern administration. This panel turns to a different side of digitalisation: can the digitalisation of public services be used as a tool of political steering, and what does this mean for the rights and options of those affected?
The event is organised together with the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and will be held in German and English with simultaneous interpretation.
Registration: https://tickets.weizenbaum-institut.de/lmm9x/
Social Payment Card: Digital Disenfranchisement of Refugees?
Panel discussion with Sarah Lincoln (Society for Civil Rights, GFF), Judy Mbiyu (Women in Exile), Emily Barnickel (Refugee Council Berlin) and Alexandra Keiner (Weizenbaum Institute)
Date: 15 October 2026
Time: 7:00–8:30 pm
Venue: Weizenbaum Institute, Hardenbergstraße 32, 10623 Berlin
Registration: https://tickets.weizenbaum-institut.de/lmm9x/