Personal budget

The (cross-agency) personal budget is an alternative form of benefit for participation and rehabilitation in the form of cash payments or, alternatively, vouchers. It allows you to decide for yourself when, where, how and from whom you utilise participation services in order to optimally cover your individual assistance needs.

With the personal budget, you become a buyer, customer or even an employer and therefore have an influence on the type and organisation of the service you receive. This strengthens your self-determination and independence and enables you to participate in society on an equal footing. The personal budget is based on a target agreement between you as the budget recipient and the service provider, who acts as the contact person and coordinator in all matters relating to the personal budget. Regardless of which and how many individual services you utilise, even if the services relate to different service providers, you will always have just one contact person. This guarantees that the personal budget always comes from a single source.

You only need to submit one application. If you would like to apply for a personal budget or would like advice and further information, please contact the service providers listed below or a joint service centre.

The following service providers can be involved in the personal budget:

• Health insurance
• Federal Employment Agency
• Accident insurance institution
• Pension insurance institutions, pension funds for farmers
• War victim care and welfare organisations
• Public youth welfare organisations
• Social welfare organisations
• Care insurance
• Integration Office

You can find a joint service centre near you at: reha-servicestellen.de

You contact a joint service centre to apply for a personal budget. In a discussion with you, the benefits that are actually eligible will be clarified. The joint service centre will contact the responsible service provider(s).

In the case of services provided by several organisations, the person who becomes the so-called representative asks the other service providers for a statement within two weeks. The needs are then discussed with you and, if applicable, representatives of the individual service providers at the authorised representative. As soon as the need has been determined, you and the authorised representative will conclude a target agreement on the services to be covered by the (inter-agency) personal budget. You will then receive an overall decision from the authorised representative about the details of your personal budget. Your needs will be reviewed at least every two years and adjusted if necessary. You receive all services from a single source. Your contact person is and remains the authorised representative appointed for your budget.

Objectives of the personal budget:

• More self-determination, more independence and more self-confidence for people with disabilities
• Equal participation of people with disabilities in everyday life in society
• Satisfaction of disabled people with their own life situation and improvement of their quality of life