Social welfare benefits for different life situations

People who are unable to secure their livelihood or who are unable to secure it sufficiently from their own resources and resources are entitled to subsistence assistance or basic security in old age or in the event of reduced earning capacity.

There is a special need in the event of illness, disability or special social difficulties for which the legislator has provided for social welfare benefits if other social service providers do not have to provide benefits as a priority (e.g. the health insurance fund, the German pension insurance, etc.). These benefits are also available to people who are still able to provide for their own livelihood but are dependent on social welfare benefits due to a special need. The decisive factor is then whether they can reasonably be expected to finance the benefits from income and assets.

The legislature has provided for the following benefits in Book XII OF THE SOCIAL CODE (SGB XII) in addition to assistance for subsistence and basic security in old age or in the event of reduced earning capacity:

1. Aids to health
2. Integration assistance for people with disabilities
3. Help with care
4. Assistance in overcoming particular social difficulties
5. Help in other life situations (e.g. help to continue the household, care for the elderly, assumption of funeral costs)

The benefits of numbers 1, 3 (only for people over 65 years of age) and 4 and 5 are provided by the responsible local social welfare office.

The responsibility for benefits of integration assistance for disabled people and that for benefits of assistance for care (only for people under the age of 65) lies with the State Welfare Association of Hesse as the supra-local social welfare institution. In addition, the State Welfare Association of Hesse is responsible for the provision of services for the blind in accordance with § 72 SGB XII.

The benefits of integration assistance for disabled people under the subject-matter responsibility of the State Welfare Association of Hesse include in particular:

• Assisted living
• Assisted living with host families
• Inpatient living in a dormitory
• Services in semi-inpatient facilities such as in recognised workshops for disabled people
• Benefits for children and adolescents with physical or mental disabilities in foster families
• Assistance with school education for children with special educational needs
• Medical rehabilitation services in recognised rehabilitation facilities
• Benefits for participation in community life

Please contact the social welfare office of your district or independent city and

• in the case of benefits of integration assistance for disabled people, assistance for care for people under the age of 65 and assistance for the blind to the departments of the State Welfare Association of Hesse for people with disabilities
  • physical or sensory disability,
  • mental retardation or
  • mental disabilities and addiction disorders

There, the following are responsible:
Kassel main and regional administration for the city of Kassel, the districts of Kassel, Fulda, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Marburg-Biedenkopf and Waldeck-Frankenberg, the Schwalm-Eder district and the Werra-Meißner district.

Darmstadt regionaladministration for the cities of Darmstadt and Offenbach and the districts of Darmstadt-Dieburg, Groß-Gerau, Offenbach, Bergstraße, Main-Kinzig-Kreis, Wetteraukreis, Vogelsbergkreis and Odenwaldkreis.

Regional administration Wiesbaden for the cities of Wiesbaden and Frankfurt, the districts of Gießen and Limburg-Weilburg, the Main-Taunus-Kreis, the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, the Hochtaunuskreis and the Lahn-Dill-Kreis.

In the case of services provided by assistance for the blind in accordance with § 72 SGB XII , please contact the Department for People with Physical or Sensory Disabilities of the Kassel Main and Regional Administration only.

Please contact the social welfare office .dem or department of the State Welfare Association of Hesse responsible for you by telephone with regard to the documents to be brought with you. You can find a phone number by entering your place of residence in the location search.

The benefit can be approved at the earliest when the need becomes known to a social welfare office or the State Welfare Association of Hesse. The respective examination of the individual case determines the exact date of approval.