What is the personal budget?

Since 2008, people with disabilities have had a legal right to receive participation benefits as a personal budget (Persönliches Budget) – across several funding bodies if necessary. Instead of services in kind, they receive an agreed monthly sum of money and use it to pay for the services they need to take part in everyday life.

The budget holder “buys” the services themselves and decides where. In the employer model, you can even employ assistants yourself. The aim is for people with disabilities to decide for themselves whether they use participation services – and when, where, how and from whom.

Who is entitled – and who is it suitable for?

Children, young people and adults with a physical, mental or psychological disability, or at risk of one, are entitled. The personal budget is suitable for all people with disabilities regardless of age:

Children of all ages can receive individual support, assistance, supervision and care through the personal budget.
Pupils can use assistance for integration and support at school.
Young adults benefit when they want to move out of their parents' home and live independently in their own flat or in assisted living.
Students can pay study assistants if they need help with their studies and in everyday life.
Working people can continue in their jobs with workplace assistance – accompanied, supported or driven to work.
People with very severe care needs can avoid a care home through intensive or round-the-clock care at home.
People with mental illness receive support, for example when shopping or using public transport, and can take part in social life again.
People of all ages can use leisure assistance to maintain social contacts and do things.

Which services are paid for?

Everyday, regularly recurring needs are funded – as a cash benefit or, in exceptional cases, through vouchers. Services from these areas are possible:

Help with care
Medical treatment services
Rehabilitation services
Participation in working life
Participation in cultural and social life
Housing and household

Examples

A small selection – a complete list is not possible because services are approved individually according to personal needs:

24-hour care
Accompaniment to public authorities and doctor's appointments
Help applying for a vehicle adapted for disabled people to get to work
Assisted living
Care of coma patients
Guide dog for the blind
Sign language interpreter
Transport services
Leisure activities (cinema, theatre)
Help with personal hygiene
Help in the household (cleaning, washing, shopping, cooking)
Intensive care / home ventilation
Mobilisation
Rehabilitation services
Day and night care
Technical work aids
Accompaniment at nursery, school, university, training and work
Supported employment
Holiday accompaniment
Consumable aids

Can family members be paid?

A big advantage: you choose your assistants yourself. Good friends or relatives can also take on the assistance. Exceptions are people with a legal duty of support (Beistandspflicht): children caring for a parent, parents caring for their child, and spouses. Relatives from the second degree onwards, on the other hand, can be paid through the personal budget.

If the social welfare office pays the budget, paying family members is only possible in exceptional cases – this is checked individually.

Pros and cons

Advantages – you can …

decide yourself how much and which assistance you use and from whom – a care service, personal assistance or freelancers,
freely decide at what times you receive help – whether you sleep in or set off on an outing at 5 am,
work with staff you have chosen yourself who suit you, instead of depending on changing staff,
pay for the help yourself and thus take on more self-determination and responsibility,
gain more quality of life because you can decide more freely about your personal matters.

Disadvantages – if you manage everything yourself, you have to …

find and employ qualified assistants yourself,
draw up duty and holiday rosters,
handle payroll and social security contributions yourself,
take responsibility for the assistants,
plan and manage the budget,
prove what the money was used for.

This takes time and expertise. That is why there are service providers who handle the administration and help with selecting staff – see Who helps?

How high is the budget – and is there an own contribution?

The amount varies greatly, because every person has different needs. The budget is set individually but should, in principle, not be higher than the corresponding services in kind. If it is no longer sufficient, it can be renegotiated.

Benefits from pension and accident insurance, long-term care insurance and the Federal Employment Agency are independent of income.
Statutory health insurance benefits do not depend on income either; however, the usual statutory co-payments (e.g. for medication and aids) apply.
For social welfare benefits (e.g. help with care), income and asset limits apply; the partner's assets are taken into account. For integration assistance (Eingliederungshilfe) the limits are considerably higher.

How and where do you apply?

Every person with a disability can apply for the personal budget for themselves, and parents can also apply for their children. You do not have to be able to manage it yourself – you can apply for help with that, too. Nobody is forced: you have a free choice.

Your needs are determined in a conversation; wishes and ideas are recorded in writing.
This is followed by a consultation with the responsible funding body, in which all support needs are laid down in a target agreement (Zielvereinbarung).
You receive a decision (Bescheid) listing all services. If you do not agree, you can lodge an objection.

You submit the application to a rehabilitation body or directly to the responsible funding body. Even if several bodies are involved (cross-agency budget), only one office is your contact. Possible bodies:

Federal Employment Agency (Agentur für Arbeit)
Old-age insurance for farmers
Statutory health insurance
Statutory pension insurance
Statutory accident insurance
Integration office (Integrationsamt)
Youth welfare
Social compensation (formerly war victims' benefits)
Long-term care fund (Pflegekasse)
Social welfare and integration assistance

As a rule, the budget is paid at the beginning of the month so that you can pay the current month's bills.

Who helps with the application and administration?

In addition to the rehabilitation bodies, there are budget assistants or budget advisers who take on tasks in agreement with you, for example:

Joint first meeting on site
Detailed analysis of support needs
Calculation of the required budget
Submitting the application to the funding body
Concluding all necessary contracts
Support with finding staff
Duty and holiday rosters
Bridging short-term staff absences
Instructing staff
Point of contact for problems with employees
Payroll

The costs for this are included in the budget and covered by the funding body. Whether you use such help is up to you – individual parts or help only at the beginning are also possible. The citizens' hotline of the Federal Ministry of Health can also help.

Questions about the personal budget? ARTANS home care is happy to answer them: 089 / 350 99 380 or info@artans.de.

Legal basis: § 29 SGB IX. As of October 2026, all information without guarantee.

A self-determined life with thepersonal budget