Volkshilfe warns welfare reform could leave families with less

Volkshilfe protested in Klagenfurt on Monday against planned changes to social assistance, warning that families with children could receive less support. The federal government plans to standardise the system nationwide and will negotiate with Austria’s states in the coming weeks, ORF reported.

Families receiving social assistance in Carinthia currently get nearly 258 euros a month for each minor child. It is not yet clear how much they would receive under the proposed national system. Volkshilfe managing director Erich Fenninger said the draft could be based on the lowest child rates, leaving children across Austria with less than they receive now.

The organisation also objects to a proposal to provide part of children’s support as benefits in kind rather than cash. The draft envisages making these benefits available through payment cards or an app. Volkshilfe argues that this would treat people experiencing poverty as if they could not manage their own finances, and says they know what their households need to spend on essentials such as food.

Volkshilfe also criticised the apparent absence of a guaranteed basic income for children from the reform plans. Carinthia had called for such a measure and offered to serve as a pilot region. The federal government wants the revised social assistance system to take effect at the start of the year.