Services and service providers

Employees and vocational trainees with existing or impending disabilities are entitled to technical aids to ensure their participation in working life. These are usually personal products that can be carried around, such as Braille displays or arthrodesis chairs.

Job-related assistive products (Section 49 (8) No. 4 SGB IX) are medical aids such as hearing aids or orthopaedic shoes. They are necessary in the job context for the typical requirements of a particular job or to increase occupational safety. They are therefore not covered by statutory health insurance.

Technical work aids (Section 49 (8) No. 5 SGB IX, Section 19 SchwbAV) basically include any work furniture, vehicles, machines, tools or hardware and software that serve to compensate for disability-related disadvantages in work activities. These can be both custom-made and commercially available products, such as screen readers, one-handed keyboards, forklift trucks with low access or special protective work clothing. Funding can be provided up to the full amount of the costs and covers the initial and replacement purchase, maintenance, servicing and vocational training in use.

Motor vehicle assistance (Kfz-Hilfe) is available for people who, due to the nature and severity of their impairment, are permanently dependent on a motor vehicle to get to work or training and are unable to use public transport. This form of benefit includes, among other things, disability-related additional equipment such as steering wheel adaptations or body modifications, repairs and the purchase of a vehicle. The legal basis for motor vehicle assistance is SGB IX in conjunction with the Motor Vehicle Assistance Ordinance (KfzHV), which sets out the requirements, application process and scope of benefits.

Financial assistance is available for people who are permanently dependent on housing suitable for disabled people due to the nature and severity of their impairment. This may be the case, for example, due to a change of job or a move to a more accessible home. Financial assistance includes structural adaptations such as kitchen conversions or the construction or purchase of a property. The aim is to provide people with disabilities with barrier-free and independent access to their workplace.

Companies can receive financial support in the form of grants and loans up to the total cost. This applies if they equip new or existing workplaces and training places with work aids suitable for disabled people or make the workplace barrier-free, for example by providing suitable access, escape routes or sanitary facilities. Workplaces for temporary and part-time employees are also eligible for funding (Section 156 SGB IX, Section 26 SchwbAV).

The amount of funding depends on the individual case and may depend on the following criteria:

• Severity of the impairment of the person with a disability
• Current labor market situation (especially in the event of imminent job loss)
• Amount of the disability-related additional expenses
• Amount of investment costs for necessary equipment
• Extent of the increase in performance or reduction in costs as a result of the investment
• Capacity of the company

When creating a new workplace for a person with a severe disability, grants and loans for general investment costs are possible (see § 15 SchwbAV). This applies, for example, to new hires or company relocations if the old workplace is threatened with redundancy.

Regular investment costs are non-disability-related expenses that would also be incurred when hiring people without disabilities, such as typical work equipment (furniture, computers, software) or improvements to working conditions (e.g. software updates).

The amount of funding depends on the individual case, with companies expected to make a reasonable contribution to the total costs.

As a framework law, SGB IX regulates the general legalprovisions for the provision of benefits for participation in working life for all service providers. In addition, there is a separate binding Social Code for each rehabilitation provider in accordance with Section 6 SGB IX (e.g. employment agency, pension insurance, accident insurance), which specifies the benefits. For the integration offices/inclusion offices, the regulations are specified in the Severely Disabled Persons Compensation Ordinance (SchwbAV). Which benefit provider is responsible depends on the social legislation, the cause of the disability (e.g. accident at work) or the individual insurance periods.

For an initial orientation, the service providers can be differentiated as follows:

1. The rehabilitation providers (e.g. Federal Employment Agency, pension insurance, accident insurance) support people with disabilities or impending disabilities so that they can obtain a workplace or maintain their earning capacity if the disability is new or their state of health has deteriorated drastically.
2. As an authority, the Integration Office/Inclusion Office always provides support subordinate to the rehabilitation providers and only in the case of a recognized severe disability or equal status.

The Federal Employment Agency is responsible for people with disabilities who are looking for work and have reduced prospects of integration in the longer term (e.g. vocational training after school, reintegration after unemployment).

In the context of vocational rehabilitation, the Federal Employment Agency is also responsible for employable people with disabilities who receive citizens' benefits through the job centers, provided that no other rehabilitation provider is responsible (see SGB III).

The statutory accident insurance institutions are responsible for occupational reintegration after work and commuting accidents or occupational illnesses. These include the employers' liability insurance associations, the agricultural employers' liability insurance associations and the accident insurance funds.

The pension insurance institutions are responsible for employees with a 15-year waiting period or who receive a pension due to (partially) reduced earning capacity (see § 16 SGB VI in conjunction with § 49 SGB IX). The pension insurance institutions also grant benefits for participation in working life if a pension due to reduced earning capacity would have to be paid without these benefits or if they are necessary for the successful securing of medical rehabilitation immediately afterwards. As one of the aims of rehabilitation in pension insurance is to avert or delay a pension due to reduced earning capacity ("rehabilitation before pension"), younger insured persons can also receive benefits for participation in working life without fulfilling the 15-year waiting period (Section 11 (2a) SGB VI).

People who have suffered damage to their health and for whom the community is responsible in a special way are entitled to claim. These include, for example, Bundeswehr soldiers, Federal Border Guard employees, victims of violence, vaccination victims, victims of imprisonment for political reasons in the former GDR or in certain areas of expulsion. Social compensation for health impairments is paid by the state pension offices, pension offices, main welfare offices or integration offices (for people with severe disabilities according to SGB IX Part 2) and welfare offices for war victims (§ 26, 26 a BVG). The core of social compensation law is the Federal Pension Act (BVG), to which the other laws refer as subsidiary legislation (e.g. Victims Compensation Act (OEG), Prisoner Assistance Act (HHG)).

Children, adolescents and young adults up to the age of 27 who have a mental disability or are at risk of a disability are entitled to integration assistance. The public youth welfare authorities (youth welfare offices) or the local authorities (independent cities, districts) are essentially responsible for the services, unless another agency is responsible (see Section 86 SGB VIII, Section 35 a SGB VIII).

People who receive social assistance and are physically, mentally or emotionally significantly impaired are entitled to rehabilitation services as part of integration assistance, provided no other provider is responsible. Students also belong to the group of eligible persons. The providers of integration assistance are determined by the federal states and can be, for example, the cities, districts, state offices or regional associations (NRW) (see Section 111 SGB IX).