Prove you are job-hunting and learning German, or Upper Austria pays only half your Sozialhilfe - 49 people are on the half rate
Upper Austria's social affairs minister, Christian Doerfel, presented the first review of the province's tightened Sozialhilfe rules on Tuesday morning in Linz. The rules took effect on 1 February, and they changed what you have to prove before the full payment is approved.
Anyone making a first application now falls under a Bemuehungspflicht, a duty to show effort. In practice that means demonstrating you are genuinely trying to find work and to learn German. If you cannot make that credible, the authority does not refuse the application. It pays out half the guide rate, and keeps paying half until you produce the proof, such as evidence that you are attending an integration course. So far 49 people have been put on the half rate.
The province presented the figures as a success. Between 1 February and 7 July, 7,279 people received Sozialhilfe, against 7,660 in the same period a year earlier, a fall of around five percent. Among recipients classed as able to work, the group the reform was aimed at, the number fell from 2,916 to 2,693, or 7.7 percent.
The picture inside the sanctions data is mixed. Total reductions fell from 482 to 420. Cases recorded as a breach of the integration obligation dropped sharply, from 121 to 64, and cases of unlawful receipt fell from 83 to 67. But cases recorded as unwillingness to be placed in a job rose, from 263 to 288.
What this means in practice: if you are claiming for the first time in Upper Austria, the paperwork you bring to the appointment now decides whether you receive the full rate or half of it. Keep written confirmation of course enrolment and attendance, and of job applications, and take it with you. Because the half rate runs only until proof is furnished, producing the document is what ends it. Your district authority can tell you which courses it accepts.