Persönliches Budget (German: "Personal Budget", a statutory scheme for people with a disability) for children with a disability — explained simply

What is the Persönliches Budget?

The Persönliches Budget is not extra money and not a new social benefit.

It is a different way of receiving certain benefits to which a person is entitled because of their individual support needs.

Instead of receiving exclusively a fixed benefit in kind or service, benefits that qualify for the budget can, on application, be provided in the form of a Persönliches Budget — usually as a cash payment.

The legal basis is found in particular in § 29 SGB IX (German Social Code, Book IX).

The underlying idea is greater self-determination: people entitled to benefits should be able to decide more for themselves when, where, how and by whom the necessary support is provided.

Parents, too, can apply for a Persönliches Budget on behalf of their eligible child with a disability, for example for certain assistance or care services.

Need comes first — then the budget

This is actually the most important point for understanding the Persönliches Budget.

The family describes to the responsible benefits agency (Leistungsträger) where and why their child needs support.

For example:

Our child cannot go to children's gymnastics alone.

During the activity they need a familiar person alongside them.

They need support with orientation and with transitions.

They need help with communication.

They cannot reliably assess danger and therefore cannot be at the playground or out and about without someone with them.

Or:

Our child regularly needs support with leisure activities and social participation on certain days of the week.

As part of the needs assessment, it is then examined and established what support is required and must be provided by a benefits agency.

The amount of a Persönliches Budget is therefore based on this individually established need — not solely on a diagnosis or a particular degree of disability.

What happens once an assistance need has been established?

If a corresponding benefit is approved, the family can apply for, or agree, to receive this benefit — which qualifies for the budget — as a Persönliches Budget.

The responsible benefits agency and the person entitled to benefits, or their representative, generally conclude a target agreement (Zielvereinbarung).

Among other things, this records which goals are to be achieved, which need is to be met, which evidence may be required, and how much the budget is.

This is where the real distinctive feature of the Persönliches Budget comes in:

The family gets more scope to organise the approved support itself.

It is therefore not necessarily dependent on, for instance, only one particular service sending an assistant.

The BMAS (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs) explicitly describes budget holders as people who purchase services themselves and, depending on how it is set up, can also be the employer of an assistant.

Persönliches Budget and au pair

An au pair can, for example, support a child with a disability in daily life as a familiar leisure assistant and companion.

They can go along to children's gymnastics.

Accompany the child to sport.

Go with them to the playground.

Support them at a leisure activity.

Make communication easier.

Or simply be the extra person without whom the child could not take part in a particular activity.

Whether a specific assistance service provided by an au pair may be funded from the Persönliches Budget, however, always has to be clarified individually with the responsible benefits agency.

What matters are the established need, the approved benefit and the conditions of the decision (Bescheid) or the target agreement.

That is why we cannot say, as a blanket rule:

"An au pair is paid for through the Persönliches Budget."

But we can make families aware that it can be worthwhile having this option examined in the individual procedure.

Can an au pair then, for example, take on 30 hours of assistance?

Within the German au pair programme, an au pair may generally support with their permitted tasks for up to 30 hours a week and a maximum of six hours a day.

Whether, and to what extent, this activity can at the same time constitute an assistance service funded from the Persönliches Budget is, however, a separate question of social law.

It is therefore not enough that the au pair already supports for 30 hours and that an assistance need of the same order exists.

The responsible benefits agency must have accepted, or approved, the specific provision of that support accordingly.

Only then can it be examined which costs, in the specific case, can be covered from the Persönliches Budget.

Where can I get independent advice?

A very good first point of contact is the EUTB® (German: "Ergänzende unabhängige Teilhabeberatung" — supplementary independent participation counselling).

The EUTB advises people with a disability and their relatives free of charge on questions around rehabilitation and participation. The BMAS explicitly names the EUTB as a free advisory service; advice centres can be found throughout Germany.

There, families can discuss, for example:

Which benefits agency might be responsible?

Which benefit might apply?

How does an application process work?

And which other advisory services make sense?

You can seek advice wherever you feel comfortable — you choose the advice centre freely, and the EUTB is free of charge and not tied to any provider.

Why do we at Besondere Sterne provide this information?

Because many families with children with a disability have never heard of the Persönliches Budget.

And that is exactly what we want to change.

Perhaps this form of benefit is relevant for your child.

Perhaps not.

But families can only check which options suit them if they know these options exist in the first place.

That is why we want to give you a first, clear overview and encourage you, if you are interested, to seek further advice.

Because the decisive question in the end is not:

"What diagnosis does my child have?"

But rather:

"Where does my child need support so that they can take part in life in society as self-determinedly as possible — and how can that support be organised?"