[Reform steps toward networking sheltered workshops and the general labour market]

Only 0.16% of disabled employees are enabled to change from sheltered workshops to the general labour market. At the same time the number of disabled employees in sheltered workshops is increasing more than anticipated. Investigations into the growing admissions to sheltered workshops resulted in recommendations to improve the practice of change over. More and more admissions of students having finished special schools could be reduced by improved cooperation between special schools and the local employment market. Special schools should offer suitable job trainings and support students to develop an understanding of the requirements of specific jobs and of their opportunities to develop their skills to do these jobs. In 2009, supported employment has been regulated in social security law, lasting up to three years and aimed at qualifying disabled youngsters for employment in the general labour market instead of entering sheltered workshops. The majority of admissions to sheltered workshops in the meantime concern people with psychological handicaps, with more than 30% however leaving the workshops later on. For this population, "virtual sheltered workshops" are offering more suitable means for reintegration in the general labour market, such as temporary employment in the general labour market or in occupations with small earnings. The personal budget for work is meant to be a model project within the German Länder, to transfer personal support from the sheltered workshop into the general labour market. The conference of German Länder Ministers of Social Affairs has been active since 2007 to develop a concept for reform of the social security law concerning integration assistance for disabled people, which in future is to concentrate on individual needs, removal of obstacles in the law to facilitate the transition from sheltered workshops into the general labour market. The "Deutsche Verein für öffentliche und private Fürsorge" (German association for public and private welfare) has contributed valuable suggestions to the reform debate, all of which should be realized by the German Government during the seventeenth legislative period.