Integration assistance

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The integration allowance is a benefit that in since 2020 Germany in SGB IX is regulated. It is intended to help people with a disability or at risk of disability to alleviate the consequences of their disability and to integrate into society ( Section 90 of Book IX of the Social Code).

From SGB XII to SGB IX

Until 2019, integration assistance was largely regulated in SGB ​​XII , where it was part of social welfare law. This location has been criticized many times, among other things because the separation of specialist services and services that secure a living was not always guaranteed. With the Federal Participation Act passed in December 2016, the legislature gradually removed integration assistance from the custody rights and transferred it to an independent benefit system in SGB IX, which was largely revised in this context. The process is completed with the entry into force of the revised 2nd part of SGB IX on January 1, 2020; the provisions of § 53 ff. SGB XII, which were relevant up to that point, have since become invalid.

Beneficiaries

People with disabilities and people who are at risk of disability are entitled to receive benefits from integration assistance ( Section 99 of Book IX of the Social Code). In principle, this also applies to foreigners who are actually staying in Germany, provided they do not receive benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act - Section 6 AsylbLG is relevant for them - or who entered the country with the aim of receiving integration assistance benefits ( Section 100 SGB ​​IX). Germans who have their habitual residence abroad are, with a few narrow exceptions, not entitled to benefits ( § 101 SGB ​​IX).

Integration assistance and neediness

The integration assistance in SGB XII was means-dependent, i.e. H. The income and assets of those entitled to benefits and certain relatives were offset against the claim ( Section 19 SGB ​​XII). Interest groups strongly criticized this in the legislative procedure for the BTHG and campaigned for the integration assistance in SGB IX to be independent of income and assets in the future. So they did not get through to the result: In SGB IX, integration assistance is still of secondary importance ( Section 91 SGB ​​IX). However, the legislature has given the rules for crediting income and assets a new structure. In place of an obligation to contribute income and assets, there has now been an obligation to make contributions to the benefits of integration assistance above a certain income or asset limit. Disabled people's associations criticize this approach because the “fundamental problem of justice” is not eliminated even by the restructuring of income and asset accounting: “Why should the disabled person bear financial responsibility for a fateful reduction in their chances in life, although they are not to blame for their increased needs ? "

Integration assistance benefits

The social participation benefits have been merged and restructured for integration assistance in Part 2 of SGB IX since 2020. As in SGB XII, an open service catalog is still provided. SGB ​​IX describes some of the most typical integration assistance services in more detail, but is not exhaustive. The explicitly described services are similar to the catalog from SGB XII and the old SGB IX valid until 2019, but are not identical in all details.

In the rough structure, SGB IX divides the integration assistance benefits into benefits of social participation, participation in working life and participation in education. All services can also be provided in the form of a personal budget . The decision on this form of granting of benefits is at the discretion of the authority.

Social participation

Under the concept of benefits for social participation, which was newly introduced with the new version of SGB IX 2020, the legislature specifies and expands the range of benefits that was previously described in SGB XII as “benefits for participation in community life”. 76 SGB IX contains an exemplary list of the relevant social participation benefits, which are further specified in the subsequent regulations. This includes

  • Assistance services ( Section 78 SGB ​​IX)
  • Special educational services ( § 79 SGB ​​IX)
  • Benefits for care in a foster family ( § 80 SGB ​​IX)
  • Services to acquire and maintain practical knowledge and skills ( § 81 SGB ​​IX)
  • Services to promote understanding ( § 82 SGB ​​IX)
  • Mobility benefits ( § 83 SGB ​​IX)
  • Aids ( § 84 SGB ​​IX)

The assistance services are of great practical importance ( Section 78 SGB ​​IX). Examples of this are help with housekeeping, the creation of social relationships, personal life planning, participation in community and cultural life and leisure activities.

Participation in working life

Service catalog

Services for participation in working life are provided - as already under the previous legal situation - in order to maintain, improve, establish or restore the employability of people with disabilities or people at risk of disability in accordance with their performance and to ensure their participation in working life as long as possible ( Section 49 (1) SGB ​​IX). In terms of content, it is about aids in maintaining or obtaining a job, including benefits for activation and professional integration, professional preparation including basic training required due to the disability, individual company qualification within the framework of supported employment, professional adaptation and further training, also as far as the services are one Include the required school-leaving qualification, vocational training, even if the services are carried out at school in a non-predominant part of the time, the promotion of self-employment by the rehabilitation provider and other aids.

Budget for work

The right to a budget for work is newly regulated by law ( Section 61 of Book IX of the Social Code). Individual federal states, including Hamburg and Rhineland-Palatinate , had already tried out similar concepts for promoting participation in working life in accordance with the legal situation in force until 2019; however, the services were designed very differently from country to country. The budget for work is intended to create an alternative to employment in a workshop for disabled people . Among other things, the law provides for a wage subsidy as compensation for underperformance. This is intended to facilitate the transition from the workshop for people with disabilities to the primary labor market.

Participation in education

In § 75 SGB ​​IX, a new group of benefits was created with benefits for participation in education. The starting point for this is the education-related prohibition of discrimination from Article 3 paragraph 3 sentence 2 of the Basic Law and the right to education from Article 24 of the UN CRPD. The aim of the integration assistance is to enable those entitled to receive a school education appropriate to their abilities and achievements as well as school and university training and further education for a profession to promote their participation in life in society ( Section 90 (4 ) SGB IX).

The catalog of services includes help with school education, in particular in the context of compulsory schooling including preparation for this, for school-based vocational training, for higher education and for school-based and university-level professional development. In addition to the legal situation that applies until 2019, the law applicable from 2020 onwards also provides assistance for a master’s degree if the master’s degree is based on a previously completed bachelor’s degree ( Section 112 (2) SGB ​​IX). Help for participating in distance learning and help with completing an internship can also be considered ( Section 112 (3) SGB ​​IX). The scope of services also includes the supply of aids including replacement procurement ( Section 112, Paragraph 1, Clauses 6 to 8, SGB ​​IX).

Integration assistance and child and youth welfare

In addition, other services can also be provided as part of the integration assistance. Since the youth welfare office is responsible for mentally handicapped children and young people, the services mentioned here are mainly available for physically or mentally handicapped children and young people.

Aid for an appropriate school education is provided to disabled children who, due to their disability, require additional services in order to be able to attend school as part of compulsory schooling. This includes, for example, the provision of an integration assistant . In principle, only attending a secondary school or special school is funded; attending another type of school can only be funded if it can be expected that the educational goal will be achieved.

In principle, the social welfare office has to adhere to the decisions of the school supervisory authority; a child cannot refer to a special school if the school supervisory authority assigns the child to a regular school, even if the integrative schooling causes higher costs than attending a special school.

If, due to the type and severity of the disability, in-company training is not an option, attendance at a school training facility for an appropriate job can be funded. Funding is only provided if it is to be expected that the goal of the training has been achieved, the training path is necessary and the profession is likely to offer a sufficient livelihood or, if this is not possible due to the disability, it will contribute to the livelihood to an appropriate extent becomes.

Procedural law

In terms of procedural law, the granting of integration assistance requires the prior implementation of an overall planning process; In certain constellations, a participation plan procedure is required as an alternative or in addition.

Overall plan

In the administrative process, the integration aid agency carries out an overall planning process with all persons and agencies concerned, in which the individual needs of the person seeking help are determined ( Section 117 of Book IX of the Social Code). The needs assessment must be carried out using a needs assessment tool based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health ( ICF ). At the end of the overall planning process, there is the overall plan. It defines the content of the integration assistance to be approved later, taking into account the wishes of the beneficiary. The creation of the overall plan is mandatory. It must also take place if only the provider of integration assistance or only one benefit group is affected. A general planning conference can precede the procedure, but this is not mandatory. The provider of integration assistance can refuse to hold a general planning conference if the relevant facts can be determined in writing or the effort involved in carrying out the project is not in proportion to the scope of the requested service ( Section 119 (1) SGB ​​IX).

Participation plan procedure

If several rehabilitation providers are involved, a participation plan procedure must also be carried out. The final participation plan defines, among other things, the relationship between the rehabilitation providers involved. The participation and the overall planning process are to be linked.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Egbert Schneider: The new Federal Participation Act , WzS 2017, p. 70.
  2. Stefan Doose / Birte Johannsen: Changes due to the Federal Participation Act from 01.01.2018 . Professional and professional association for curative education eV 1/2018