Distribution of the Participation Budget among Local Authorities

Local authorities are given a budget from central government to guide people who are able to work into employment, known as a ‘participation budget’. The government aims to improve opportunities for people with occupational impairments on the labour market by means of the Participation Act. The group of people dependent on occupational reintegration support from local authorities will grow from 2015 onwards and the composition changes. This is due to the restriction of the eligibility of the Wajong (the invalidity benefit for young disabled persons) to persons who are permanently unable to work, and access to the Sheltered Employment Scheme ended. Those who do not have access any more to the Wajong or sheltered employment will have to be re-employed at the cost of the participation budget of the local authorities. As a result, the current model for distributing reintegration funds among local authorities no longer works. This study develops an allocation key for distributing the ‘new’ participation budget among local authorities.