Services/Social Services
Social services are there for people in need of care and people with disabilities so that they can be supported in the way they themselves wish. The goal is the improvement of the living situations of these people.
Social services are the responsibility of the Federal States and are offered by them as well as by local authorities and independent welfare organisations such as Volkshilfe, Hilfswerk, the Red Cross, the Samariterbund, Diakonie and Caritas.
Applications can be made to local authority offices (Gemeindeamt), the District Commission (Bezirkshauptmannschaft) or in cities the municipal authorities, plus in Vienna the Sozialzentrum and the Vienna Social Fund.
In the agreement between the Federal Government and the Federal States in accordance with Art. 15a of the Federal Constitution on joint measures for people in need of care, the Federal States have undertaken to ensure that social services are offered on a decentralised and nationwide basis.
The Federal States ensure that social services are needs-based, of high quality and sufficiently available. A case and care management approach is applied, which means that social services are designed to meet the needs of their clients. In addition, the support structures are coordinated with those of other organisations. The goal is to ensure quality in training and in practice.
The Infoservice of the Ministry of Social Affairs (available in German) provides a comprehensive collection of offers of mobile social services and an overview of the existing retirement and nursing homes throughout Austria.
Retirement and care homes in Austria
With increasing age, the probability of needing care and support increases. Many people eventually move to a retirement and nursing home. Moving to a retirement and nursing home must take place on a voluntary basis, which means that people are only admitted with their explicit agreement.
The costs of a retirement and nursing home vary and depend on several factors. For example, it depends on which Federal State the home is in and whether it is a public or private institution. In most retirement and nursing homes, the fees are composed of a base amount and a supplementary amount according to the person’s need for care, which is often related to their care stage of long-term care allowance.
Alongside their long-term care allowance and their pension, the person’s other income is also used to cover the cost of the home. If their income is not sufficient to cover the costs of the home, social assistance and/or the minimum income system usually provide the remaining amount. Detailed information is provided by the respective retirement and nursing homes, the relevant local or municipal authorities or the District Commission (Bezirkshauptmannschaft).
Since 2013, there is a National Quality Certificate for Retirement and Nursing Homes in Austria (NQZ). The Ministry of Social Affairs and the Federal States have jointly ensured that the NQZ applies throughout the country. The certificate is awarded to homes, which by going beyond the fulfilment of legal requirements, make an effort to further develop their quality in the interests of the greatest possible degree of individual quality of life.
The legal basis for living in residential and care homes
Important legislation regarding living in retirement and nursing homes is contained in the Residential Homes Contracts Act and the Accommodation in Residential Homes Act. The Residential Homes Contracts Act was enacted to protect the residents of retirement and nursing homes. The Accommodation in Residential Homes Act regulates the conditions for the permissibility of restricting the personal freedom of people with mental illnesses and people with cognitive impairments in retirement and nursing homes.
Detailed information on residence in homes, on contracts and care is also provided by the Consumer Service Portal of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The discontinuation of the state’s recourse to a person’s assets to finance care
Since the 1st of January 2018, access to the assets of persons who have been admitted to institutional care facilities (and to the assets of their family members, heirs and the recipients of gifts) in order to cover the costs of care is no longer admissible. From this moment onwards, compensation claims could no longer be asserted, and ongoing proceedings had to be closed. Insofar as Federal State laws contradicted this, the respective provisions became ineffective as of this point in time (Federal Law Gazette no. 125/2017).
Which assets cannot be seized?
This provision covers all assets, regardless of their amount. All assets which are considered as such under Austrian law remain untouched. This also includes properties (houses, flats and other buildings, land), cash and savings accounts.
Is income also covered by the discontinuation of the recourse to assets?
No. All recurring benefits and entitlements (such as pensions and maintenance) will continue to be used to cover the costs of care and are not covered by the end of the recourse to assets. If a person is accommodated in a home at the cost of the social assistance scheme, they retain 20 percent of their pension including special payments, plus ten percent of the monthly long-term care allowance at stage 3.
What is an institutional care facility?
The term care is defined in the legislation on long-term care allowance and covers assistance and support services. Institutional means that the person is accommodated during the day and the night and that they are entitled to long-term care allowance. These assistance and support services can also be provided in a facility which is designated as a facility for people with disabilities.
A ruling of the Austrian Constitutional Court has clarified that the care of people with disabilities in institutional facilities is covered by discontinuation of the recourse to assets and that these provisions are also to be applied.
Social services as a part of care and support services
Mobile and outpatient support and nursing services
Mobile and outpatient social services can facilitate care in a familiar environment and enable the people in need of care to stay in their homes longer, as well as relieve the burden on caregiving relatives. Mobile and outpatient support and care services include, for example, home helps, nursing care at home or “meals on wheels”.
Semi-institutional day care
Day care is semi-institutional care of people in need of care during the day or night once or several times a week. Day care with its structured daily routine and a range of activating and therapeutic programs predominantly has the objective of enabling people in need of care to live a relatively independent life in spite of various limitations. Semi-institutional services are offered, for example, by geriatric day centers. Their services include a pick-up and taking-home service, meals, needs-oriented care and, depending on needs and interests, therapies, excursions, events and advice for caregiving relatives.
Short-term care in institutional settings
In order to relieve the burden on family members who provide care and support at home, care can be provided in an institutional facility (e.g. a nursing home) for the duration of a temporary absence due to a holiday, for example.
Alternative forms of housing
Returning home after a period spent in a care home is not always possible. As an alternative to staying in a retirement and nursing home, a number of Federal States have established shared accommodation for senior citizens. With the support of mobile social services and the assistance of social workers, former retirement and nursing home patients are enabled to live autonomous lives again.
Support for people in their everyday lives for several hours a day, and services to ease the burden on family members.
This includes offers of support for several hours a day in the home environment to promote and maintain an independent lifestyle.
Case and care management
Social services are designed to meet the needs of their clients. The provision of health care is recorded by the relevant authorities in order to set joint goals with those involved and to ensure the coordination of care provision over a certain period or over the entire course of the care provided to a person. Further information is available from the Austrian Society for Case and Care Management.
Community Nursing
The pilot project “Community Nursing” was implemented in all Federal States from 2022 to 2024 and comprised 117 projects in which community nurses acted as central points of contact for health and care-related issues. The aim was to prevent the need for care, to strengthen the independence of older people and to promote health competence among the population.
In view of demographic change and an increasingly ageing population, community nursing makes a significant contribution to local, low-threshold and needs-orientated care. The aim is to promote the health of the whole population, and especially older people and their relatives, in a community-based environment and to maintain or improve independence for as long as possible through professional nursing interventions on several levels.
Community nurses are qualified health and nursing staff (Diplomierte Gesundheits- und Krankenpfleger:innen - DGKP) who are engaged in meeting the needs of their target groups, provide advice and information and coordinate the services of various regional players in the health and social sectors. Their work promotes and protects the health of individuals, families and communities. In addition, community nursing makes a significant contribution to strengthening the image and increasing the attractiveness of the profession, in order to meet the growing demand for personnel in the care and support sector.
The pilot project was funded by the European Commission from 2021 to 2024 as part of the Austrian Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF). As part of the financial compensation negotiations (Finanzausgleichsverhandlungen) for the years 2024-2028, the Long-Term Care Fund (see below) was increased to 1.1 billion euros. Community nursing was integrated into the Long-Term Care Fund as an eighth social service and thus financially secured in the long term. This legal provision enables the Federal States to continue community nursing. The strategies for implementation and continuation vary between the Federal States.
Further information regarding community nursing (in German): CN-Österreich
In-depth information (in German):
- Tasks and role profile community nursing
- Image video: community nursing
- Continuation of the project in the Federal States: fact sheet continuation 2025 (as of December 2024)
- Community nursing projects in Austria: project map community nursing
Long-term Care Fund
The Long-Term Care Fund is an administrative fund. It is an earmarked contribution towards ensuring and improving the provision of affordable care and support services to people in need of care and their relatives in line with their needs, as well as to expand and develop the range of care and support services in long-term care in line with demand. In addition, monthly subsidies for education and training as well as salary increases for nursing and care staff can be granted from the Long-Term Care Fund. The aim is to improve care and support services, make working in long-term care more attractive as well as finance quality assurance measures, innovative projects and digitalisation measures.
Two thirds of the funding for this purpose is provided by the federal government and a third by the Federal states and local authorities. The legal provisions relating to the Long-term Care Fund are laid down in the Long-Term Care Fund Act (Pflegefondsgesetz, PFG).
The Long-Term Care Fund is based at the Ministry of Social Affairs and is jointly managed with the Ministry of Finance. Until September 30 of each year at the latest, the Federal States are obliged by the provisions of the PFG to present plans to safeguard, extend and develop care and support services to the Ministry of Social AffairS . With regard to the objectives of the Long-Term Care Fund Act, this has the effect that the Federal States regularly draw up needs and development plans for long-term care.
With the amendment to the PFG, which came into effect on January 1, 2024, re-endowment of the Long-Term Care Fund for the years 2024-2028 with a total of 6.034 billion euros was ensured.
Hospice and Palliative Care
Based on the Hospice and Palliative Care Fund Act, which entered into force on the 1st of January 2022, the federal government supports the Federal States in the implementation of Austria-wide, needs-based specialised hospice and palliative care services, which are organized according to uniform criteria and not funded by the performance-oriented hospital financing (Leistungsorientierte Krankenanstaltenfinanzierung - LKF). The aim is to provide and secure an accessible and affordable range of services for palliative patients and their relatives that is adapted to their specific needs and complements general care services.
Beginning in 2022, the federal government provides an annual subsidy from budget funds, the amount of which is set in the Hospice and Palliative Care Fund Act (Hospiz- und Palliativfondsgesetz - HosPalFG). It is administered by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection together with the Ministry of Finance.
The prerequisite for the allocation of these financial resources is an agreement with the Federal States and the Social Insurance Institutions on the amount of their financial contributions, among other things. Furthermore, the granting of the subsidy requires compliance with the conditions laid down in the HosPalFG, which were developed in the years 2022 and 2023 by Gesundheit Österreich GmbH on initiative of the Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection in agreement with the Federal States and the Social Insurance Institutions. This included, in particular, uniform standards of quality, the necessary development and expansion of the specialized care services, standardised planning, the collection of data parameters and the setting of rates.
The financial resources for the years 2022 to 2024 are set in the HosPalFG and are valorized yearly beginning with the year 2025. There is a strong commitment between the Federal Government, the Federal States and the Social Insurance Institutions to implement the agreed conditions, with the Federal States being responsible for the operational implementation.
