Social Services Europe calls for state aid to cover a higher percentage of services for the employment of persons with disabilities, including supported employment

Social Services Europe calls for state aid to cover a higher percentage of services for the employment of persons with disabilities, including supported employment

On 2 October 2025, Social Services Europe to which EPR is member, submitted its position to a call for evidence* from the European Commission on the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).

The GBER sets the conditions that allow EU Member States to give significant amounts of state aid to a wide range of activities without having to request prior permission to the European Commission, since those activities are considered compatible with the EU internal market (i.e. providing them with state aid does not pose an unfair advantage for them in the market). The European Commission aims to adopt a revision of the GBER by the end of 2026, which is why it collected the views of different stakeholders through the call for evidence in order to consider them in the revision.

In its input to the call for evidence, Social Services Europe called for the following points:

• GBER should recognise the provision of social services by non-profit entities and include a new category of aid for such services. In its current form, the GBER already allows for state aid dedicated to support the recruitment, employment and training of disadvantaged workers and workers with disabilities, but other social services are not covered in the GBER.
• The definition of Small and Medium Enterprises in Annex I of GBER should recognise the specificities of non-profit entities. Small and medium non-profit entities are in a weaker economic position since profits have to be re-invested in the social purpose of the organisation. Therefore, they should not be considered as a bigger entity if they are linked to the same non-profit entity, as it is currently the case, but as separate SMEs.
• The maximum percentage of costs covered by state aid, to be 90%, 95% or 100% for all measures to support the employment of persons with disabilities and workers, and 100% for vocational rehabilitation and support after long-term illness/ sickness absence. Additionally, specific financing should be directly geared towards supporting the employment of persons with intellectual disabilities. This would mean that Member States could use State aid to cover almost the totality of costs of services supporting the employment of persons with disabilities and vocational rehabilitation without having to notify the European Commission about it, making the administrative process smoother.
• Enabling investments in climate protection, climate adaptation and digitalisation for service providers.
• An alignment of GBER with EU funding policy to allow for the cumulation of State aid from different sources, including EU funds.
• The GBER should maintain its provisions regarding the aid for disadvantaged workers and for workers with disabilities (compiled in GBER’s Section 6).
• Include Supported Employment, in addition to Sheltered Employment, within the GBER. By recognising supported employment as an eligible form of aid, the GBER would further enable the financing of job coaching, workplace adaptations, and other tailored supports necessary for sustainable labour market participation.

*The definition of “call for evidence” is available at the EPR Knowledge Hub Glossary of key EU policy terms, here.

Social Services Europe’s input to the GBER call for evidence is available here.