Who can claim a care allowance?
The care allowance is a purpose-based service to partially cover the additional care-related expenses and therefore not an increase in income. Care allowance enables people in need of care to have a certain degree of independence and to remain in their familiar surroundings for longer.
Requirements for receiving care allowance
- Constant need for care and help due to a physical, mental or psychological disability that is expected to last at least six months
- Constant care needs of at least more than 65 hours a month
- Ordinary residence in Austria, whereby it is also possible to grant care allowance in the EEA and in Switzerland under certain conditions.
How do you get care allowance?
An application must be made. This can be brought in by the person concerned or by relatives or by legal representatives at the competent authority (PVA).
The amount of the care allowance is divided into 7 levels, depending on the extent of the need for care and regardless of the cause of the need for care. The classification depends on the extent of the need for care and is paid monthly in arrears 12 times a year.
Assessment of the need for care
Care requirements within the meaning of the Federal Long-Term Care Allowance Act exist when support is required for both care measures and auxiliary services.
Care measures are all those that affect the personal area: e.g. Cooking, eating, taking medication, dressing and undressing, personal hygiene, relieving people’s needs or getting around within the apartment.
Aid activities are those that relate to the factual area of life.
Only the following five auxiliary devices can be taken into account when assessing the need for care:
- Provision of food, medication and everyday necessities
- Cleaning the apartment and personal belongings
- Care of the body and bed linen
- Heating of the living space including the procurement of the heating material
- Mobility aid in a broader sense (e.g. accompaniment during official channels or visits to a doctor)
When assessing the need for care, current values for the necessary care measures and auxiliary functions are taken into account and combined to form an overall assessment.
The care levels are divided as follows:
Level 1 – 65 hours / month – € 175,00
Level 2 – 95 hours / month – € 322,70
Level 3 – 120 hours / month – € 502,80
Level 4 – 160 hours / month – € 754,00
Level 5 – 180 hours / month – € 1024,20 (herefore an exceptional increased nursing care is required)
Level 6 – 180 hours / month – € 1430,20 (prerequisites: care measures cannot be coordinated temporal)
Level 7 – 180 hours / month – € 1879,50 (prerequisite: no targeted movement of the four extremities is possible)
(Status 01/2023)