2023-05-17 13:52:00
Recipients of unemployment benefit, emergency assistance, social assistance or compensatory allowance will receive an additional 60 euros per child and month until the end of 2024. Single parents and sole earners who have a gross income of less than 2,000 euros per month and those on social security without children receive the same benefit.
Start of aid payments in July
Families and especially single parents are most affected by the rise in prices, the federal government justified the measures that Family Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP) and Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) presented Wednesday morning before the Council of Ministers meeting. The aid payments are to start in July; before that, a National Council decision is needed, which should be made as quickly as possible.
The special payment for those affected will be paid out automatically and without application – either as part of the social or insurance benefits received or (in the case of sole earners or single parents) via the Ministry of Finance. Details are still being worked out.
Social welfare recipients without underage children will also receive an additional 60 euros per month – but only until the end of 2023. If there are children in the house, they will receive an additional 60 euros per child.
More money to start school
The school starter package “Schoolstartklar” will be improved: for those entitled to benefits, the payment per child will be increased from 120 euros to 150 euros, and payments will also be made twice a year (instead of once previously). Children in “financially precarious situations” are entitled, i.e. if they receive social assistance or minimum income in the household. According to the government, 15 million euros will be invested in this.
Funding for the platform will also be increased www.weiterlernen.at, which gives socially disadvantaged children and young people free access to learning support from NGOs and student teachers. A total of ten million euros will be made available for this point.
500 million euros total volume
It is important to support the families affected, Raab said at the press conference in the Chancellery. “We want to start where children in Austria need our help”. Around 400,000 children will benefit from the measures, she said. The total volume of the package is around EUR 500 million.
Raab and Rauch justified the time limit for the aid at the end of 2024 with the fact that this is intended to counteract the current rise in prices. Experts were also of the opinion that it was a matter of taking inflation-dampening measures – “and then looking at how inflation developed,” said Rauch.
“We have a good social network”
“We have a good social network in Austria,” emphasized Raab – that’s how all social benefits were adjusted to inflation, she recalled. But “in this special situation with high inflation” one wants to “additionally help those affected, especially families with children”. “Of course we will watch how the high inflation develops,” she said.
The reactions were mixed. On the one hand, the measure was welcomed by NGOs and the opposition, but on the other hand it was judged to be insufficient – the main criticism was the lack of structural measures.
Caritas President pleased
Caritas President Michael Landau was pleased that the package “finally focuses on children”. This is a “first important step” for children and families, added Caritas Vienna director Klaus Schwertner. However, the measures presented should “not be everything”. Specifically, Caritas called for a reform of social assistance, an increase in unemployment benefits and emergency assistance, and an increase in the compensatory allowance. Diakonie, Volkshilfe and the Red Cross also called for further steps.
union dissatisfied
The trade union federation described the package as “inadequate” and called for the family allowance for the unemployed to be valorised. In addition, unemployment benefits urgently need to be increased to 70 percent of the net replacement rate. AK President Renate Anderl said it was good that the government was “getting started”, but saw only “a small band-aid on a big wound”. Court of Auditors President Margit Kraker was pleased because the measures were targeted.
“No reason to cheer”
The SPÖ criticized that the government was not fighting the cause: “Again today the government is only trying to alleviate the symptoms,” wrote SPÖ chairwoman Pamela Rendi-Wagner on Twitter.
FPÖ social spokeswoman Dagmar Belakowitsch also saw “no reason to celebrate”, for whom the earnings limit of 2,000 euros gross is “much too short”. While the NEOS were pleased that the government “didn’t unpack the watering can this time”, they also missed structural reforms.
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