Case Study: Angels on Site & Contracts Under Control

Mandant & Branche

Hausengel is a nationwide provider of live-in care in the home environment, as well as outpatient nursing services and care consulting. Since 2005, the company has enabled people in need of care to live self-determined lives in their own homes. Its service portfolio combines outpatient specialist nursing and care consulting delivered by qualified staff with quality-assured in-home support provided by self-employed caregivers from Central and Eastern Europe.

With its own corporate structures in several European countries, a clearly defined care concept, and its contribution to the development of DIN SPEC 33454, Hausengel established binding quality standards in the sector at an early stage. Services can be booked modularly or as an integrated solution from a single provider. Active in the market for more than 20 years, Hausengel is one of the leading and defining providers in the field of legally compliant 24-hour care in Germany.

Initial Situation | Challenge

The starting point of our engagement was the company’s international recruitment and structuring approach. The caregivers placed by Hausengel predominantly come from Central and Eastern Europe, in particular from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Croatia. To establish these structures, Hausengel set up its own local subsidiaries. We supported the legal structuring of these entities, their continuous further development, and subsequent reorganisations. The objective was to create a sustainable cross-border business model that meets labour, social security and tax requirements alike.

Solution | Legal Approach

We advise Hausengel on the strategic structuring and scaling of its business model. A key focus is the drafting of intra-group contractual frameworks as well as the legally robust structuring of contractual relationships with self-employed caregivers. The business model has been continuously developed over the years. We have translated and safeguarded this evolution across multiple jurisdictions. In addition to corporate and contract law matters, we provide ongoing advice on tax, labour and international social security issues.

A particular challenge lies in the tension between self-employment and dependent employment, especially in the context of working time regulations and cross-border social security rules. Our advisory approach is both strategic and operational. In close coordination with lawyers and tax advisers in the caregivers’ countries of origin, as well as the client’s German advisers, we pursue a fully aligned, holistic approach. Legal assessments are regularly tested in practice through pilot models. The insights gained are then incorporated into the structured further development of the business model before implementation on a larger scale.

Outcome | Added Value

On this basis, Hausengel was able to establish and sustainably expand its business model in several European countries. The legal structuring enables a resilient scaling of the franchise approach while ensuring compliance with labour, social security and tax requirements.

Consistent and forward-looking structures enable the company to anticipate regulatory developments at an early stage and to make entrepreneurial decisions in a legally secure and predictable manner. In this way, our legal support provides the foundation for stability, growth and long-term market positioning in the sensitive field of in-home care.

Team | Expertise

We advise Hausengel in particular in the areas of contract drafting, corporate law, international social security law, as well as employment and service contract law. The collaboration is not project-based, but structured as long-term, continuous legal support of the company’s entrepreneurial development. Key areas of our work include international social security law, legally compliant 24-hour care, franchise structures, and the legal support of cross-border business models.

More about Hausengel’s business model and the concept of 24-hour care and in-home support can be found here: Hausengel – 24h care in your own home