Integration assistance for people with disabilities

Do you have a disability or are you at risk of a disability? Or do you look after a child or a person with a disability? The wide range of integration assistance services are designed to help you participate in all areas of social life.

Integration assistance benefits are intended to enable people with significant disabilities to participate fully in all areas of social life.

Integration assistance benefits are divided into 4 benefit groups:

• Benefits for medical rehabilitation
• Benefits for participation in education
• Benefits for participation in working life
• Benefits for social participation

Among other things, the benefits can help you to cope with the tasks of daily life. This may include the following integration assistance services, for example:

• Housing
• finances
• Household management
• leisure activities
• Promotion of private contacts and hobbies
• Visits to public authorities (preparation and support), if not the task of a legal guardian
• Mobility
• Parental assistance
• Support at school, university or for further training at work
• Support at the daycare center
• Auxiliary means
• Promotion of communication
• work
• Special form of accommodation

The services are individually tailored.

You will receive integration assistance services if you do not receive the required services from other social benefits or rehabilitation providers, for example the health insurance fund, pension insurance provider, employment agency or accident insurance provider.

The costs for the services are borne by the responsible integration assistance provider. The federal states determine who is responsible for integration assistance.

For integration assistance benefits, you must always pay a contribution from your income and from your assets if they exceed a set limit. The income and assets of the person with disabilities receiving benefits and, in the case of minors entitled to benefits, of their parents, are relevant. Some benefits are exempt from contributions, for example curative education benefits, assistance with school education and benefits for social participation for beneficiaries who have not yet started school.

For the granting of integration assistance, the following is required:

• until the end of school education at a general school or a special school , or
• if the benefits are applied for for the first time after reaching the individual standard retirement age

the administrative district or the district-free city in whose district the recipient of the aid actually resides. You can also submit the application to your municipality. The latter is obliged to forward the application to the competent authority.

The Landeswohlfahrtverband Hessen is responsible for services after completion of school education.

• You must submit an application to the responsible office. This can be informal.
• Please contact the office responsible for you to find out which additional documents you need to submit. The authority may ask you to use a form.

Depending on the circumstances, you may need, for example

• Proof of disability
• all proof of income
• Proof of accommodation costs and proof of assets (bank information)

You can receive integration assistance benefits if

• you have a disability or
• you are threatened by a disability and
• you are significantly restricted in your daily life as a result.

You can also apply for integration assistance for people who represent you in the context of legal care, guardianship or as authorized representatives or custodians.

• Appeal within one month of notification of the administrative decision
• Action before the social court within one month of notification of the objection notice
• Action for failure to act at the social court

You can apply for integration assistance from the institution responsible for you. If you are not sure who is responsible for you, you can submit an application to any institution. This institution is obliged to forward the application to the responsible institution.

• You contact the integration assistance provider responsible for you.
• They will advise you or you can submit an informal application straight away.
• The responsible body may ask you to complete a form and submit further documents.
• The institution will carry out a participation, an overall plan procedure or both procedures in order to determine your individual need for integration assistance services and possible further participation services. You can request that a person you trust be involved in the overall plan procedure.
• Once all the documents have been submitted, the responsible body will check whether and which benefits you will receive based on the information you provide and the assessment of your needs. This also includes checking whether and to what extent your income and assets are taken into account.
• Once your application has been reviewed, you will receive a decision.

If the authority was unable to provide a service that could not be postponed on time and you incurred costs for a service that you procured yourself as a result, the authority must reimburse you for these costs if the service was necessary. The same applies if the authority has wrongly refused a benefit.

If you are entitled to integration assistance after your application has been reviewed, this will be granted from the first of the month in which the application was submitted at the earliest if the requirements were already met at that time.

In order to achieve the most effective support possible for the disabled person, the social welfare agency will draw up an overall plan for the implementation of the individual services as early as possible together with the disabled person, the doctor treating them, the health authority and possibly the youth welfare office or employment agency.

The processing time for your application depends on various factors. Please contact your responsible integration assistance provider, who will be able to give you more detailed information on the duration of the procedure.

However, the authority to which you have submitted your application must determine whether it is responsible for your application within 2 weeks of receiving it. If the authority is not responsible, it will forward your application to the competent authority without delay. You will be informed of the forwarding.

If the authority does not forward your application, it must determine and provide your need for support as quickly as possible.

If an expert opinion is required to determine your needs, the authority must make a decision within 2 weeks of receiving the expert opinion.

If the authority is not required to obtain an expert opinion, it must make a decision within 3 weeks of receiving your application.

There are no costs.

There are no indications or special features.