The family allowance goes almost abroad – News

In 2016, according to the latest report of the Court of Auditors, some 4.77 billion euros in family allowances and family allowances were paid to two million children. This corresponds to a share of six percent of total federal spending

Of this amount, some 291 million euros went to 130,000 children registered abroad. If we look back to the year 2002, the number of eligible children living abroad has almost doubled from about 1,500. According to the Court of Auditors, this mbadive increase is attributable to the enlargement of the EU and the opening of the Austrian labor market.

90% of eligible children come from the new accession countries: Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. The planned indexation of the family allowance could be saved here, but according to the Court of Auditors, other measures would be more important.

For the moment, the control of the federal government is deficient. As a rule, it is not checked until the child's 18th birthday if claims continue to occur. This means that anyone who receives a family allowance can often refer to it until the child reaches adulthood. Neither the Ministry of the Family nor the Ministry of Finance has been concerned about how to identify it in a timely manner.

Recommendations of the Court of Auditors

In its report, the Court of Auditors advises both the Federal Chancellery and the Ministry of Finance for a simplification of this system. The proposed indexing, however, would make it even more complex. In addition, the Court of Auditors points out that there is concern about the legal debate on the legal admissibility of the EU.

Moreover, the Court of Auditors recommends the introduction of an advanced computer system allowing automated comparison with relevant databases to verify eligibility.

Government criticism

Little is known about the number of children who live abroad and who are entitled to family allowances, it is not necessary to There is virtually no control, in other words, the ministries are working poorly and, instead of settling for populist and illegal laws such as indexing family allowances, job criticism, has criticized the spokesperson for the NEOS family Michael Bernhard.

The report of the Court of Auditors shows mbadive control gaps, kritsiert also the list of mushrooms in terms of indexing. Cases in which indexing can be effective would only account for about six percent of beneficiaries. "Of course, it should not happen that children who do not exist or who do not have eligibility are reported, so to make sure that the state does not become not a self-service store, it will of course require careful scrutiny by the departments these checks are missing, it's very problematic, "said Wolfgang Zinggl, club president of the mushroom list

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