Blind money
The blindness allowance in Germany is monthly financial support for people who are blind or severely visually impaired from birth, due to an illness or an accident . Currently around 125,000 people in Germany receive the blind allowance; they use it to cover the additional expenses they incur due to their disability . These include costs for household help , reading aloud, or additional expenses for aids such as braille notepads.
Legal regulations
The right to blindness allowance is legally regulated according to state law . According to the state blind money laws, the blind money is granted regardless of the income and assets of the blind person.
Help for the blind in SGB XII is subsidiary , i. H. regulated by federal law within the framework of social welfare ( Section 72 of Book XII). In SGB XII, however, the general income and wealth limits for social assistance apply, i.e. H. Assistance for the blind according to SGB XII is only granted in case of need . Provided that the requirements for receiving social assistance are met, assistance for the blind according to SGB XII can also be received in addition to the state blindness benefit, provided this entitlement is lower than that according to SGB XII. The entitlement to the social assistance provider is the amount of the difference between the blind assistance according to § 72 SGB XII and the respective state blind compensation.
According to a ruling by the Federal Social Court on August 11, 2015, children with severe cerebral damage are no longer excluded from the blind allowance (AZ: B 9 BL 1/14 R).
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The amount of state allowances for the blind varies from 300 euros (in Lower Saxony, for adults from 25 years of age) to 567 euros (in Berlin, Hamburg, Hesse and Saarland).
The blind allowance in Hamburg was increased to 478.72 euros per month on July 1, 2012 (increase by 2.18 percent). The income-independent state blind money for the 12,000 blind people in Lower Saxony was initially reduced by the Wulff government and abolished entirely on January 1, 2005. Two years later it was reintroduced on January 1, 2007 and increased in two stages: on January 1, 2009 to 320 euros (for adults up to 25 years) and 265 euros (for adults aged 25 and over). The last change came into force on April 1, 2014, since then the blind allowance has been 320 euros (for adults up to 25 years of age) and 300 euros (for adults from 25 years of age) and 100 euros (for adults staying in inpatient facilities).
Relationship to long-term care insurance
Services of long-term care are the blind aid (depending on care level eligible). The help for the blind is reduced by a certain amount, as the extra work caused by blindness is already partially covered by the care services.
For home care assistance according to §§ 61,63 SGB XII, this is not granted if the need for care exists solely because of blindness (§ 72 Abs. 4 SGB XII). The cash amount according to Section 35 (2) SGB XII, which is paid when staying in inpatient facilities (“pocket money”), does not apply when receiving assistance for the blind. Both regulations also apply to the withdrawal of blind money according to state law.
See also
Web links
- Info page of the Seh-Netz eV Heidelberg
- dvbs: 6.2 The consideration of the blind allowance in tax law
Blind allowance in individual federal states
- State aid for the blind in Baden-Württemberg
- Bavarian Blind Pay Act
- Allowance for blind people and care allowances in Berlin (PDF)
- Services for blind people in the city of Hamburg
- Law on state allowance for the blind Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (PDF; 39 kB)
- State blindness allowance Lower Saxony
- Pay for the blind and help for the blind in NRW
- Rhineland-Palatinate State Blind Allowance Act
- State Blind Pay Act Schleswig-Holstein
supporting documents
- ^ Lower Saxony State Office for Social Affairs, Youth and Family , accessed on February 22, 2017
