Support Programmes of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs

The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS) in Germany offers programmes to promote projects that make a particular contribution to improving and stimulating the professional participation and inclusion of people with disabilities and severe disabilities.

Innovative ways to participate in working life - rehapro

The BMAS is currently implementing the federal programme rehapro. The third and final call for funding for rehapro has now been approved with a further 20 pilot projects. Further information is available on the Website of the federal programme rehapro.

All projects that have received funding from rehapro to date can be found here:

The brochure „Promoting, strengthening and improving rehabilitation! Model projects in the rehapro federal programme - second call for funding“ (as of November 2022) can be downloaded as a PDF from the BMAS website or ordered as a print copy (only in German).

The aim of rehapro is to fulfil the legal mandate from Section 11 of the Ninth Book of the German Social Code and to promote innovative approaches with pilot projects to strengthen rehabilitation. By testing innovative services and innovative organisational measures, new ways are to be found to better maintain or restore the earning capacity of people with health impairments and to further improve cooperation between the players in the field of medical and occupational rehabilitation. The programme is aimed at job centres and statutory pension insurance providers.

With the most diverse innovative approaches and ideas possible, a joint learning and realisation process will be initiated, which can provide insights into the transferability and possible perpetuation of the model approaches. In the long term, this should also sustainably reduce access to reduced earning capacity pensions and integration aid or social welfare.

A total of 121 pilot projects with a total funding volume of around 563 million euros are currently running in the federal rehapro programme in three funding calls: 62 projects from the SGB II area and 59 projects from the SGB VI area. The funding period for the pilot projects is up to five years, and up to four years for the third funding call.

Former BMAS project funding

From 1 January 2014, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs offered a programme for the intensified professional integration and counselling of severely disabled people as part of the inclusion initiative.

Up to 80 million euros were made available to support innovative concepts for the sustainable professional integration of severely disabled people. The programme was aimed at employment agencies, joint institutions and municipal job centres.

Here you can find the BMAS guidelines for the programme (PDF, 78 KB, only in German).

A total of 59 projects received project funding.

The BMAS funding programme for the implementation of inclusion expertise at chambers (IvIK) as part of the Inclusion Initiative has already ended. The aim of the programme was to increase the chambers' expertise in the inclusion of severely disabled people in the general labour market.

More information on the background and objectives of IvIK can be found in the information for chambers (PDF, 64 KB, only in German) from the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The first IvIK project in this series started in March 2012, the last project ended in March 2018.

A total of 33 projects received project funding.