Austrian Institute for Family Studies

Childcare allowance/child care account

Evaluations of the childcare allowance/Child care account

The introduction of the childcare allowance - Kinderbetreuungsgeld (KBG) - in 2002 meant the reorganisation of financial support for families during the early childhood phase. In contrast to the maternity allowance valid until then, which served as a partial income replacement during the maternity leave period under labour law, the KBG was initially conceived as a pure family benefit, which was intended to recognise and partially compensate for the parents' care work.

In 2010, with the creation of the income-dependent childcare allowance (KBG), a supplement to the flat-rate system was created. In 2017, the flat-rate KBG was replaced by the flexible KBG account.

The figure shows a historical outline of the development of the KBG benefit variants since the introduction of the measure in 2002 until the amendment in 2016 (own illustration, see AIF Research Report No. 37).

Even before the introduction of the KBG, the OIF was involved in the development by conducting a feasibility study (1999) and since then has repeatedly conducted scientific evaluations of this family policy benefit.

So far, the OIF has published the following studies in German language (most recent first, as of March 2022):

Evaluations 2018 till 2021 (in German)
  • Evaluierung des neuen Kinderbetreuungsgeldkontos und der Familienzeit. Meta Analyse. Zusammenfassender Bericht aller Module (2022)
    Project leader: Christiane Rille-Pfeiffer, Olaf Kapella
    Project details
  • Evaluierung des neuen Kinderbetreuungsgeldkontos und der Familienzeit. Qualitativer Teilbericht (2022)
    Project leader: Christiane Rille-Pfeiffer, Eva-Maria Schmidt 
    Project details
  • Evaluierung des neuen Kinderbetreuungsgeldkontos und der Familienzeit. Quantitativer Teilbericht (2022)
    Project leader: Christiane Rille-Pfeiffer, Georg Wernhart 
    Project details
  • Evaluierung des neuen Kinderbetreuungsgeldkontos und der Familienzeit. Zwischenbericht 2019 (2022)
    Project leader: Christiane Rille-Pfeiffer, Olaf Kapella
    Project details
  • Evaluierung des neuen Kinderbetreuungsgeldkontos und der Familienzeit. Zwischenbericht 2018 (2022)
    Project leader: Christiane Rille-Pfeiffer, Olaf Kapella
    Project details
Ad hoc-research on childcare allowance 2014 (in German):

ÖIF Fact Sheet: ad hoc-Umfrage Kinderbetreuungsgeld 2014 

Evaluation 2011 (in German)
  • Evaluierungsstudie Kinderbetreuungsgeld. Einkommensabhängige und pauschale Bezugsvariante 12+2 Monate (2012)
    Project leader: Christiane Rille-Pfeiffer, Olaf Kapella
    Project details
Evaluation 2010 (in German)
  • Evaluierung Kinderbetreuungsgeld nach Reform 2008. Bezugsvariante 15+3 (2010)
    Project leader: Christiane Rille-Pfeiffer, Olaf Kapella 
    Project details
Evaluation 2008 (in German)
  • Ergebnisse einer quantitativen Studie zum Kinderbetreuungsgeld (KBG) nach der Reform 2008 (2009)
    Project leader: Christiane Rille-Pfeiffer, Olaf Kapella
    Project details
Evaluations 2001 till 2006 (in German)
Feasibiltiy Study 1999 (in German)
  • Kinderbetreuungsscheck: Modellentwicklung und Analysen (Machbarkeitsstudie Kinderbetreuungsscheck) (2000)
    Project leader: Helmuth Schattovits
    Project details
  • Österreichisches Institut für Familienforschung (1999): Entwicklung von Modellen eines Kinderbetreuungsschecks und Analyse der Auswirkungen (Machbarkeitsstudie Kinderbetreuungsscheck). (unpublished report)