Number of social assistance recipients in Upper Austria continues to decline

State Councilor for Social Affairs Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer (VP) presented the annual social assistance report at a press conference on Wednesday: In 2023, the number of people who received social assistance in Upper Austria continued to decline. At the same time, the announced benefit cuts have increased. According to Hattmannsdorfer, the results show that the increased effort requirement last year and the German requirement introduced are working.

Three target groups formulated

8783 people have in the course of 2023 received social assistance, in 2022 there were 9,805. Benefits were reduced 1,005 times last year. This means almost doubling compared to 2022 (576). The foundations have now been created that need to be built upon in 2024, as Hattmannsdorfer explained.

The State Council for Social Affairs formulated three target groups for 2024: social assistance recipients who are able to work, long-term social assistance recipients and those entitled to asylum, as well as people whose mother tongue is not German in social assistance. “The primary goal of social policy is to get those people who are able to work back into self-preservation as quickly as possible,” says Hattmannsdorfer.

The SPÖ, however, put the brakes on euphoria. “Social assistance is particularly strictly regulated in Upper Austria compared to other federal states and currently the amount of social assistance in Upper Austria decreases the more children live in a household. I am therefore calling for the standard rates to be increased to a uniform 25 percent per child. That would be an important one first step to end child poverty in Upper Austria,” said social spokeswoman Sabine Engleitner-Neu.