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(Bild: Roland Muehlanger)

Anyone who completes AMS courses as a social welfare recipient will be able to keep the training allowance in future. The City of Vienna will face enormous additional costs.

The City of Vienna will have to dig deeper into its pockets for minimum benefits and will need 215 million euros more than forecast for this year alone - a total of 1.11 billion euros.

The City of Vienna will also have to record considerable additional expenditure as a result of an amendment to the Basic Welfare Assistance Act by the turquoise-green federal government. To put it succinctly, it used to be like this: If recipients of social assistance attended an AMS course, the training money paid out was deducted from the minimum benefit - no one received one euro more. In future, they will be allowed to keep the money. And depending on the case, the social welfare system will top it up considerably, as confirmed by the Green Ministry of Social Affairs and the City of Vienna.

That was a decision made by the ÖVP and the Greens in parliament. I take note of that. We federal states now have to implement this decision, whether we like it or not

Wiens Sozialstadtrat Peter Hacker (SPÖ)

What do those affected have to say? Minister Johannes Rauch's office answers it like this: "If the training lasts more than 12 months, social welfare recipients receive around 370 euros per month. If it lasts between 4 and 12 months, the training allowance is around 224 euros per month. If the training lasts up to 4 months, social welfare recipients receive around 75 euros per month."

Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) and City Councillor Peter Hacker from the SPÖ

(Bild: APA/Roland Schlager)

Ministry of Social Affairs explains it like this....
And why all this? The Ministry of Social Affairs explains it like this: "The supplement has created an incentive to take advantage of training courses offered by the Public Employment Service. Until now, many of those affected have found it difficult to afford longer training courses and have been forced to accept poorly paid jobs."

The problem for the city: someone has to pay the up to 370 euros in training money that the recipients are now allowed to keep - in this case Vienna. City Councillor for Social Affairs Peter Hacker (SPÖ): "This was a decision made by the ÖVP and the Greens in parliament. I take note of that. We federal states must now implement this decision, whether we like it or not." Additional costs: 31.6 million euros for 2025 alone. Vienna wants to reclaim the money from the federal government in any case.

How a person comes to just under 2,000 euros
The training allowance is certainly worthwhile for individual recipients. A calculation for a single person: 1155.84 euros basic minimum income. Plus: depending on the case, rent allowance (up to 385 euros per single household as an example when presenting the allowance). In the case of vocational training, a bonus of 370 euros per month is added. The bottom line is sometimes 1910.84 euros net on your hand.