Vienna abolishes training surcharge: 20 million euros in annual savings!

Vienna abolishes training surcharge: 20 million euros in annual savings!

There is currently movement in social welfare in Vienna. As news.at reports, the education bonus for social assistance recipients, which was introduced in 2024 under the Turquoise-Green government, will be abolished on June 15, 2025. This training surcharge, which amounted to up to 300 euros per month for participation in longer training and further education measures offered by the AMS, will be deleted from the Basic Social Welfare Act. In addition, the rule that this surcharge is not counted towards social assistance is no longer applicable.

Social City Councilor Peter Hacker (SPÖ) expressed skepticism about this decision and has initiated a consultation mechanism. He emphasizes that the increased training surcharge was introduced in parliament as an initiative proposal without sufficient opportunity for assessment. Vienna will be the first federal state to implement this deletion. The increased training surcharges paid out caused additional costs of 9.7 million euros in Vienna from November 2024 to June 2025, while the savings from abolishing the training surcharge will be around 20 million euros annually.

The education bonus and its effects

The educational bonus was aimed at supporting minimum security recipients who take part in training measures run by the Public Employment Service (AMS). Under this initiative, they received 150 euros per month for training of at least four months and up to 300 euros for one-year programs. The measures were an attempt to enable sustainable qualification of this group of people and to better reintegrate them into the labor market, as Parliament explains: parlament.gv.at.

The criticism of the amendment to the law could not be ignored. SPÖ and NEOS voted against the proposals and pointed out the need to adjust the amount of the education bonus to inflation. The original funding was not taken into account here, which led to a disproportion in the amounts. The training surcharge for four-month measures was adjusted from 136.2 euros to 149.4 euros, while one-year training courses were increased from 272.4 euros to 298.8 euros.

The reaction of politics

The ÖVP MP Gödl sees the bonus as having a positive effect on employment, while NEOS fears that increasing benefits for social welfare recipients could lead to a reduced take-up of work. As part of this amendment to the law, the resolution on the Home Victims' Pension Act and the Social Work Designation Act 2024 were also put on the table, which is intended to protect the titles of “social worker” and “social educator”.

The new regulations are part of a comprehensive strategy that also aims to see how labor market policy responds to changing conditions. According to social ministry.gv.at, developments are responded to with time-limited initiatives. The training supplement was only introduced on January 1, 2024, and other measures to promote employment, such as the skilled worker scholarship, are also on the agenda.

The discussions about the education bonus and the effects of its cancellation will probably continue, as many aspects of social security and the qualifications of minimum security recipients are under scrutiny.