Other family benefits
As with maternity/parental benefits, Austria is very generous with the support it supplies its legal residents. While the parental leave allowance is only extended to employed people and is focused on the child’s early life, the Austrian government provides family benefits, regardless of employment, that assist families with children for the duration of the childrens’ dependency.
Some categories of support include:
- Childcare allowance
- Family allowance
- School start-up allowance
- Unrestricted access to the labor market
More information about childcare allowances and other support is available here
While the parental leave allowance was only for employed persons, almost all groups of persons are covered by the child care allowance. For example, housewives and students now also have a claim to this family policy measure, irrespective of previous gainful employment.
Child care allowance account:
amount: 14.53 Euro to 33.88 Euro daily (depending on the selected variant) benefit period: from 365 to 851 days from birth for one parent, or from 456 to 1,063 days from the birth of the child when claimed by both parents (depending on the option chosen).
In the shortest version, which is the basic version with 365 days from the day of birth (this is included), you get the highest amount (33.88 Euros per day). The longer the claim duration, the lower the daily amount. If one chooses e.g. twice the duration of the basic version (that is 730 days), you get half the amount (ie 16.94 Euros per day). With the choice of the duration of the claim you automatically select the daily amount. The choice also binds the other parent.
365 days – EUR 33,88/day = EUR 12.366,2
730 days – EUR 16,94/day = EUR 12.366,2
851 days – EUR 14,53/day = EUR 12.365,0
Income-dependent childcare allowance:
In contrast to the childcare allowance account, the income-related childcare allowance is only granted to persons who (actually) worked in Austria for a period of six months prior to the birth of the child. The income-based childcare allowance has the function of giving those parents, who only want to retire for a short period of time and have a higher income, the opportunity to receive an income replacement during this time.
Amount: 80% of the last income, maximum 66 euros per day (about 2,000 Euros per month).
The income-based childcare allowance may be drawn no later than the 365th day from the birth of the child, if only one parent receives childcare allowance.*
Family allowance is graded according to age and number of children (even for children who were not born in Austria).
The family allowance is per child per month:
from birth – 114 €
from 3 years – 121.9 €
from 10 years – 141,5 €
from 19 years – 165.1 €
The monthly total amount of family allowance increases by the siblings “Geschwisterstaffelung” for each child:
a) for two children – € 7.1 for each child,
b) for three children – € 17.4 for each child,
c) for four children – € 26.5 for each child,
d) is granted for seven and more children to 52 € for each child.
That means with 2 children you get EUR 7,1 more per month for each child. If you have to pay income tax you get additionally the “Kinderabsetzbetrag”, currently EUR 58,40 per month/per child. It is paid in addition and does not have to be requested separately.
The maximum period of benefit for the family allowance is limited to the age of 24 years.
School start-up allowance:
With the family allowance for September, a school start allowance of EUR 100,00 is also paid for each child between the ages of six and 15; no separate application is required.
Unrestricted access to the labor market:
Your family members have free access to the labor market. If your wife/husband is an IT specialist as well, we can find for her/him a job at Specific-Group or at a labour market in Vienna.
