Hannoversche Werkstätten gem. GmbH
A - DESCRIPTION OF THE GOOD PRACTICE
The Hannover Workshops - charitable LLC.
Overview
The Hannover Workshops (Hannoversche Werkstätten gem. GmbH), a charitable limited liability company, was founded in 1997 as the successor company to the Hannover Centre for the Disabled (Behindertenzentrum Hannover, BZH) which had been set up in 1977.
Location
Hannover and Hannover Region, Lower Saxony, Germany
Field of activity
Q Human health and social work activities
Ultimate purpose
- To improve social cohesion/inclusion
- To provide educational opportunities
- To create or conserve employment
Scale
Regional
Start date
1997
End date (if applicable)
ongoing
Short description
Hannoversche Werkstätten create opportunities for people with disabilities to develop their personal and vocational skills within the areas of working, living, and gastronomy. Within the field of vocational training, people with handicap receive vocational qualifications in correspondance to the professions on the general job market. Within the area of assisted living, Hannoversche Werkstätten encourage and support disabled people on leading an independent, self-determined and dignified life.
Key words
Disabled people
Health and social care
Skills development
Education/learning
Addressing unemployment
Objectives
As stipulated in the Social Security Statute Book (Sozialgesetzbuch SGB IX § 136), the concept and tasks of a workshop for the disabled are:
... for those people with disabilities who due to the nature or severity of the disability cannot or cannot yet be (re-)employed on the general job market ....
- to ensure appropriate vocational training and employment,
- to maintain, develop, improve or regain their ability to work and become employed and thereby to continue developing their personality.
- It fosters the transition of those who are suited to the general job market with the help of suitable measure ...
The workshop is open to all disabled people (...), if one can expect that after having taken part in vocational training (at the latest) they will yield at least a minimum amount of productive work that can be put to good economic use.
Activities
With a main workshop venue in Kleefeld, and premises in Hainholz, Kirchrode and Rethen all covering the vocational training area, The Hannover Workshop also provide a domicile for assisted living (the Hannoversche WohnAssistenz) and offer a home for people with autism in Lüdersen. At the main workshop venue in Kleefeld, the activities' range include: wood and metal working, cleaning services, industrial assembly work, textile processing, laundry services, manufacture of brooms & brushes, basket work for chairs, bicycle workshop, car maintenance, electronic scrap recycling; printing & newspaper sales, postal services, administration & office technology; gardening & landscape gardening, floristry, farming, firewood; gastronomic services. Furthermore, according to the individual special needs, the opportunity of different assistance is given: There are groups with extra supervision, groups of people with severe multiple disabilities, and support groups.
Achievements
The institution currently employs roughly 1,000 people in the workshops and about 250 members of staff for group supervision, specialist services and administration.
Legal/financial exclusion
Positive impacts
Hannoversche Werkstätten make a great contribution towards achieving social and financial inclusion for people with disabilities. An important legislative basis of the WfbM is the Workshops Directive (Werkstättenverordnung, WVO) in Appendix 18 of the SGB IX. It describes the tasks and obligations of the WfbM in more detail, i.a.:
“The workshop must be run on sound managerial principles.[...]”
“The workshop must strive for economic results in order to be able to pay those disabled people employed in its working area a remuneration appropriate to their productivity, as defined by § 136 para. 1 clause 2 and § 138 of the SGB IX.”
Creation/conservation of local employment
Positive impacts
The institution currently employs roughly 1,000 people in the workshops and about 250 members of staff for group supervision, specialist services and administration. In a workshop for the disabled one generally finds at work: ca. 70–80% mentally handicapped people, and ca. 10–20% emotionally disturbed people.
In addition, there are also people with severe and multiple disabilities, physically disabled people and people with learning difficulties, provided they cannot be offered better support elsewhere.
Adaptation to new realities
Positive impacts
Cross sectoral working
Positive impacts
Covering an extremely broad area of training fields and activities, Hannoversche Werkstätten do not only work cross-sector, but also boost the cooperation between for-profit and not-for-profit work. The latter is being ensured e.g. by a number of employees working with business companies like Continental AG (but getting their salary from Hannoversche Werkstätten, however) or by Hannoversche Werkstätten selling their self-manufactured products on the
Enablement of social enterpreneurship
Impacts not known
Amenities for local people
Positive impacts
Helping people with disabilities find employment and leading a life in dignity, Hannoversche Werkstätten also makes a contribution towards boosting the community cohesion.
Educational opportunities
Positive impacts
It is not only the impressive range of educational opportunities, but also the quality of training, along with the different typed of assistance available, what has made Hannoversche Werkstätten a major actor within the landscape of vocational training and job creation for people with disabilities.
Crisis response
Positive impacts
In times of crisis, supporting vulnerable social groups becomes essential. By their long-lasting experience and magnitude reached since their foundation in 1997, Hannoversche Werkstätten has become a major actor within the landscape of vocational training and job creation for people with disabilities.
Local financial environment for soc ent
Neutral impacts
The funding of the differents activity branches and areas of work are as follows
Hannoversche WohnAssistenz (assisted living): invoicing according to specialist staff hours. Contract partner is the Hannover Region, which conducts negotiations in the name of the local communities concerned.
Vocational training area
Contract partner for agreeing the cost rates for attendance is the State Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA), represented by the Regional Purchasing Centre for northern Germany. Cost rates are binding for all funding bodies such as the German Pension Scheme (Deutsche Rentenversicherung; formerly BfA, LVA)
Working area
The remuneration provisions are composed of: basic flat rate, flat rate for the relevant measure, investment contribution, travel costs, contribution to employer’s liability insurance association and economic occupation flat rate. The contract partner is the Lower Saxony Social Welfare Office in Hildesheim (LS Hildesheim)
Contributions to the pension scheme and health and nursing care insurance are deducted from the pay on behalf of the workshop employees.
Local policy environment for soc ent
Neutral impacts
National financial environment for soc ent
Impacts not known
National policy environment for soc ent
Impacts not known
C - PARTNERSHIPS & GOVERNANCE
Inclusive governance?
The beneficiaries are provided with different instruments to make themselves heard, both at individual level and in networks. At individual level for example, Hannoversche Werkstätten runs a radio station (Handicap On Air); at network level, Hannoversche Werkstätten cooperate with various partners, such as: the Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted in Lower Saxony (Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Niedersachsen e.V.), a society that offers support to the mentally disabled and those with multiple disabilities in and around Langenhagen (Lebenshilfe für geistig- und mehrfach Behinderte e.V. Langenhagen und Umgebung), and a society for people with physical and multiple disabilities in Hannover (Verein für Körper- und Mehrfachbehinderte Hannover e.V.).
Influence on local / national decision makers
Hannoversche Werkstätten have the legal status of a Workshop for People with Disabilities in accordance with the Social Security Statute Book (Sozialgesetzbuch SGB IX § 142), which means that they are a publicly-owned undertaking.
Partnership work involved
Partners: the Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted in Lower Saxony (Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Niedersachsen e.V.), a society that offers support to the mentally disabled and those with multiple disabilities in and around Langenhagen (Lebenshilfe für geistig- und mehrfach Behinderte e.V. Langenhagen und Umgebung), and a society for people with physical and multiple disabilities in Hannover (Verein für Körper- und Mehrfachbehinderte Hannover e.V.).
D - PR & TRANSFERABILITY
Would this programme work well in another European context?
The programm is likely to be well-suited for transfer to another European context.
Communication of experience and success to the public
At the website of Hannoversche Werkstätten, there is a special section intended for press and media. At the section experience is shared with the public, new developments are announced and success stories are particularly highlighted. Furthermore, the radio station owned by Hannoversche Werkstätten features a programme made by their employees.
Communication with local/national decision makers
As a publicly-owned undertaking, there is ongoing communication with the public authorities, both at local and at national level.
Elements that would transfer particularly well to other contexts
Hannoversche Werkstätte's quality management system has been certified according to the DIN EN ISO 9001:2008 standard. Thus, operational procedures within all ranges of work are assured to correspond to internationally recognized standards.
E - RESOURCES AND SUSTAINABILITY
Total income 2011/12
not known
How is this made up?
The funding of the differents areas of work are as follows: Hannoversche WohnAssistenz (assisted living): invoicing according to specialist staff hours. Contract partner is the Hannover Region, which conducts negotiations in the name of the local communities concerned.
Vocational training area
Contract partner for agreeing the cost rates for attendance is the State Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit, BA), represented by the Regional Purchasing Centre for northern Germany. Cost rates are binding for all funding bodies such as the German Pension Scheme (Deutsche Rentenversicherung; formerly BfA, LVA)
Working area
The remuneration provisions are composed of: basic flat rate, flat rate for the relevant measure, investment contribution, travel costs, contribution to employer’s liability insurance association and economic occupation flat rate. The contract partner is the Lower Saxony Social Welfare Office in Hildesheim (LS Hildesheim)
Contributions to the pension scheme and health and nursing care insurance are deducted from the pay on behalf of the workshop employees.
Human resources
The institution currently employs roughly 1,000 people in the workshops and about 250 members of staff for group supervision, specialist services and administration.
Technology
Handicapped accessible machines are available in all activity branches.
Start-up investment
not known
External support
not known
If public funding were withdrawn, could the GP continue to exist?
No.
Strengths, weaknesses, difficulties and lessons learned.
Strengths: Magnitude - Hannoversche Werkstätte is the largest institution in Hannover of its kind, with an extremely broad range of activities -, long-lasting experience and partnership with three other networks of people with disabilities. Difficulties: Competition with other low-wage countries, such as Ukraine.
F - EXECUTIVE BODY AND CONTACT INFORMATION
Who set up the GP?
The Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted in Lower Saxony (Blinden- und Sehbehindertenverband Niedersachsen e.V.), a society that offers support to the mentally disabled and those with multiple disabilities in and around Langenhagen (Lebenshilfe für geistig- und mehrfach Behinderte e.V. Langenhagen und Umgebung), and a society for people with physical and multiple disabilities in Hannover (Verein für Körper- und Mehrfachbehinderte Hannover e.V.).
Who runs the GP?
Local government
Short description
Hannoversche Werkstätten has the legal status of a Workshop for People with Disabilities in accordance with the Social Security Statute Book (Sozialgesetzbuch SGB IX § 142).
Contact name
Ms Vera Neugebauer
Organisation
Hannoversche Werkstätten gem. GmbH
Lathusenstraße 20
D-30625 Hannover
Deutschland / Germany
Telephone
0049 511 5305 0
E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website http://www.hw-hannover.de/
G - SUPPORTING INFORMATION
