Guide: The path to care allowance

Seek advice

Contact an advice center. For example, you can contact the care advice center in your federal province. Call them and ask where you can get initial advice. If you have any questions about care allowance, your social insurance provider or the Chamber of Labour (AK) will also be able to help you.

Care advice centers in the federal provinces:

Social insurance websites:

Chamber of Labour (AK):

Determine care needs

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What kinds of support do you need? How often do you need them? 

• In which areas of daily life can family members or close contacts help you? In which areas do you need support from professionals? Write down situations where professional assistance is necessary. Think about how many hours per week or month this takes.

   

  Describe all necessary support tasks, for example in relation to:

  • Walking, getting up, lying down
  • Personal hygiene and dressing
  • Eating and drinking
  • Using the toilet or managing incontinence
  • Household tasks

  To do this, you can keep a kind of diary. For example

You also have the option of using the Chamber of Labour's calculator "Mein Pflegegeld". This online tool allows you to answer questions about your limitations, need for assistance, and care requirements. Based on your answers, it provides an initial assessment of your likely care allowance level, which you can attach to your application. Please note that the result is only a guideline.

Do you need more than 65 hours of support per month? You can apply for care allowance. 

You submit the application for care allowance to your responsible social insurance provider. This may, for example be the PVA, BVAEB or SVS. The application can either be submitted by the person in need of care themselves or by a relative on their behalf.

Select application form

Choose the application form for your social insurance provider.

For postal applications:
 

For the Online-Applications using ID Austria:

Fill out the application

Fill out the form for the application for care allowance. It is best if the person in need of care does this together with a trusted person. If you need help filling out the form, speak to your family doctor or an advice center.

Submitting the application

Submit the application to the relevant insurance provider. Be sure to include important documents such as medical reports or the result of the AK (Chamber of Labour) care allowance calculator.
 

After submitting your application, you will receive an approintment for an assessment. At this appointment, a doctor or nurse will come o your home and assess your support needs. Make sure that a trusted person is also present.

Prepare any documents that could be important for the assessment, for example:

• Care documentation, if you currently receive nursing or care services from a mobile provider (for example home help)
• Recent doctor’s letters or hospital discharge summaries
• Medication prescription
• Care diary: detailing the support you need, when, and how often

At the appointment, the doctor or nurse will examine you and draw up an expert opinion on your need for assistance. They will use the prepared documents and any information from your trusted person to write an expert report.

After the assessment, you will receive a notification about the outcome of your application. This will inform you whether the application for care allowance has been approved or rejected. If the application has been approved, the decision will specify your care level, the amount of allowance you will receive, and the start date of payments.

If you believe your application was wrongly rejected or that your care allowance level is too low, you can request a review and lodge an appeal. Appeals can be submitted in writing or orally, but must be made within three months of receiving the decision. During the appeal process, you will continue to receive any care allowance already approved.