Die Soziale Arbeit im Spiegel des kantonalen Sozialhilferechts

How do the cantonal social welfare laws reflect the position of professional social work? Summary: The article deals with the question of what significance and role the cantonal social assistance laws ascribe to professional social work in the implementation of social assistance. The analysis shows that social work is legally weakly embedded both in the structure (organisation, qualification of personnel) and in the procedure of social welfare (decision-making powers). Access to professional social work is characterised by such federal differences that the question arises as to what extent this heterogeneity is tolerable in terms of social policy in the area of existential welfare provision.