[Gerontological expert report on professionally justified individual services according to § 71 of the German Social Code Act (SGB) XII].

Background: In the second half of 2023 the Senate for Science, Health and Nursing of Berlin commissioned an explicit gerontological expert report from the team of authors, which was intended to provide suggestions for the modernization and concretization of § 71 of the German Social Code Act (SGB) XII, i.e., the central social law basis for so-called care of older people. It was completed by the end of 2023. The objective of the report was to provide suggestions for a Berlin Assistance for Old People Structural Law that considers the differentiation and diversity of the life phase of old age by identifying, analyzing and describing the necessary individual services.

Aim of the article: The approach and the central results of the report are presented and discussed.

Material and methods: In a multistep procedure, combined with a multimodal research approach, various methods were combined in order to generate a comprehensive understanding of the current situation of so-called assistance for older people and gerontological justifications for its services. Critical and selective literature reviews, document analysis and qualitative guideline-based expert interviews were used.

Results and discussion: The expert report contains concrete recommendations for an age phase and life situation-orientated development of individual services according to § 71 SGB XII. This relates to approaches, forms and topics of counselling that enable and support successful ageing for all older people. The report also explicitly identifies objects of necessary cash and non-cash benefits, which, even in precarious situations in old age, aim to strengthen the ability for self-help and provide the opportunity to participate independently in community life.