Graz AMS cuts childcare allowance from 3 years to 3 months
The public employment service AMS has sharply cut its childcare allowance (Kinderbetreuungsbeihilfe) in Graz. At the regional offices Graz Ost and Graz West, new applications are now only approved for single parents, and only for a maximum of three months per child. Until now, the allowance could be paid for up to three years.
The allowance helps parents pay for a nursery, kindergarten, after-school care or a childminder when they start a job, increase their working hours or take part in an AMS course. It pays up to 300 euros a month, depending on income. The monthly gross income of the parent must not be more than 2,700 euros, and the child must be under 15 and live in the same household.
According to the AMS in Styria, the stricter internal rules have applied at Graz Ost since April and at Graz West since May, because of budget shortages. Extensions are now only possible in exceptional cases of real social hardship. Families who received the allowance before have also had extensions refused, in one reported case losing 200 euros a month.
The Austrian Platform for Single Parents (ÖPA) calls the cut a fatal signal to young mothers returning to work and wants it reversed, with one rule for all of Austria. There is no legal right to the allowance: each regional AMS office decides whether to grant or extend it.
What to do: if you live in Graz and plan to start a job or work more hours, apply to the AMS before you start and ask exactly how long you can get the allowance. If you are refused an extension, explain your situation in writing and include proof of financial hardship. Outside Graz, the rules may still be more generous, so ask your own AMS office. You can also check whether you qualify for the childcare subsidy of the province of Styria.