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Cash and carePolicy challenges in the welfare state$
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Cash and care: Policy challenges in the welfare state

Caroline Glendinning and Peter A. Kemp

Print publication date: 2006

Print ISBN-13: 9781861348562

Published to Policy Press Scholarship Online: March 2012

DOI: 10.1332/policypress/9781861348562.001.0001

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Developments in Austrian care arrangements: women between free choice and informal care

Developments in Austrian care arrangements: women between free choice and informal care

Chapter:
(p.141) Eleven Developments in Austrian care arrangements: women between free choice and informal care
Source:
Cash and care
Author(s):

Margareta Kreimer

Publisher:
Policy Press
DOI:10.1332/policypress/9781861348562.003.0011

Since the early 1990s, two important reforms have taken place to improve the social security and income situations of informal family carers: in 1993 the long-term care allowance was introduced and in 2002 a universal childcare allowance replaced the former parental leave benefit. Together with reforms in the social security system, it could be argued that the Austrian welfare state is beginning to assign a higher value to informal family care. This chapter addresses several questions. First, do these reforms represent a move towards ‘caregiving parity’ for informal carers? Second, have the arguments in favour of these new payments for care focused on their role in extending freedom of choice? Third, do informal carers and/or the people they care for actually experience greater freedom of choice now, compared to before the introduction of the cash benefits? The chapter begins by discussing the concepts of ‘caregiving parity’ and ‘freedom of choice’. It then examines the new childcare and long-term care allowances to see whether these reforms do indeed reflect a new approach to supporting care arrangements, based on these concepts. The chapter concludes that, although the Austrian care system does show some trends that challenge the male breadwinner model, it is still far from reflecting a new model of care.

Keywords:   informal care, informal carers, caregiving parity, freedom of choice, social security

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