24-Stunden-Pflege Kosten: Austria vs Germany After Subsidies

An older person who needs someone in the house day and night faces two different systems on either side of the Austrian-German border. Austria gave live-in care its own law in 2007, and the state pays a monthly subsidy towards it.¹ Germany has no equivalent law and no subsidy aimed at it.

Both countries draw on carers from eastern EU states who move into the household for weeks at a time and then hand over to a colleague. This article compares what a family pays in each country. It also asks what that money legally buys.

The two systems side by side

What Austria pays towards it

Austria's subsidy depends on the carer's contract. Since 1 September 2023 it has been €800 a month for two self-employed carers and €1,600 for two employed ones.² One carer earns half.

To qualify, the person cared for must receive care allowance at level 3 or above. Their net income must be no more than €2,500 a month, not counting the care allowance itself.¹ The limit rises by €400 for each dependant.¹

The €1,600 figure rarely applies. Austria's Court of Audit found that 99.8% of the roughly 30,400 subsidised carers in 2015 were self-employed.³ 84% came from Slovakia or Romania.³ For almost every family, the subsidy is €800.

Caritas, one of the large Austrian providers, publishes its prices. Its December 2025 sheet quotes a daily rate of €95 per carer for a mid-level care need, which comes to €2,850 over 30 days.⁴ Add about €300 for the carers' travel and Caritas's €333 monthly service fee, and the total is €3,483.⁴

A second price list points the same way. The agency 24 Stunden Personenbetreuung, which publishes its prices with Volkshilfe Styria, charged €98 a day for one person in January 2025.⁵ That is €2,940 for 30 days, including the agency's €9 daily share.⁵

Caritas then subtracts the €800 subsidy and the care allowance. Its example uses the 2025 level-5 allowance of €1,175.20.⁴ The 2026 rate is €1,206.90.⁶ Recalculated by us with the 2026 rate, the family's monthly share comes to about €1,476.

On top of that comes a one-off placement fee of €585 per carer, and the family also provides the carers' board and lodging.⁴

The limits that have not moved

The subsidy took 15 years to rise for the first time.⁷ In 2008 it was €550 for two self-employed carers, according to the Court of Audit.³ The 2023 increase brought it to €800.²

The €2,500 income limit has not moved at all. Caritas, Hilfswerk and Malteser Care called both figures outdated limits dating from 2007, at a joint press conference in February 2026.⁷ Austria's pensioners' association counted 46.9% inflation between 2007 and early 2024.⁸ As pensions rise with inflation, more families cross the frozen limit and lose the subsidy.⁸

The three providers asked for a €1,600 subsidy and a €4,050 income limit, both indexed.⁷ They also argue the subsidy saves public money. By their figures, the state spends about €9,980 a year on a person in 24-hour care. A nursing-home place costs it €38,728.⁷ Those are the providers' own calculations, made while asking for more funding.

What Germany pays towards it

Germany's long-term care insurance pays nothing aimed at live-in care. Families can put the monthly care allowance towards it. That is €599 at care grade 3 and €990 at grade 5.⁹ Berlin's care advice centres note that under the posting model, only that cash allowance can be used, not the larger budget for professional care services.¹⁰

The consumer advice centre of North Rhine-Westphalia sets out the legal routes.¹¹ A family can employ an EU carer directly, paying at least the minimum wage plus social insurance, which it puts at no less than €2,800 a month.¹¹ Or a foreign company can post a carer to the household for €2,800 to €3,500 a month, plus the agency's fees.¹¹

The price has risen. In 2023 the Paritätischer, quoting the same consumer centre, gave €2,200 to €3,000 a month.¹² By our calculation, after a grade-5 allowance the posted model leaves a family paying about €1,810 to €2,510 a month.

A third route, hiring a self-employed carer, is the one Austria built its system on. The consumer centre describes it as a legal gray zone, because of the risk of false self-employment.¹¹

Why one carer cannot be on call around the clock

In June 2021, Germany's Federal Labour Court ruled on a Bulgarian carer posted to a German household.¹³ Her contract said 30 hours a week, and she was paid about €950 a month net. The court held that posted carers must receive the minimum wage for every hour worked, including time on standby.¹³

The care guide for North Rhine-Westphalia draws the practical conclusion: German labour law does not allow one person to provide continuous day-and-night care.¹⁴ Working time, including standby, may not average more than eight hours a day over a six-day week.¹⁴ The same guide says the label "24-hour care" is misleading.¹⁴

A promise that was not renewed

Germany's 2021-2025 coalition promised "a legally secure basis for 24-hour care in the family setting".¹² The welfare association Paritätischer reported in 2023 that there were still no concrete plans.¹²

The next coalition agreement, signed in 2025, does not mention 24-hour or live-in care at all. We checked its full text in October 2026.¹⁵

Nobody counts these carers. The Paritätischer cites expert estimates of 225,000 to 700,000 live-in carers in Germany. It notes that no structured data is collected.¹² Austria's chamber of commerce counted about 57,000 live-in carers in 2025.¹⁶

What the headline numbers leave out

The prices do not buy the same hours. Austria's €3,483 pays for two self-employed carers who rotate, so one is always in the house.⁴ Germany's €2,800 to €3,500 pays for one employed carer whose working time is capped.¹¹ Legal round-the-clock cover in Germany would need more than one person, and nobody publishes a price for that.

Austria's legality rests on self-employment. Self-employed carers are not covered by working-time law. That is how Austria made 24-hour presence legal. It is the same arrangement German consumer advisers warn about.¹¹

Care levels are not interchangeable. Austria grades need in seven levels by hours of care.⁶ Germany uses five grades.⁹ Austrian level 5 and German grade 5 are not the same assessment, so the net figures compare similar, not identical, situations.

One provider's price sheet is not a market price. Caritas quotes daily rates from €85 to €125, depending on the care needed.⁴ Other Austrian agencies charge differently.

How to use these numbers

If you are in Austria, check the income limit first. Net income counts without the care allowance, and each dependant raises the limit by €400.¹ Ask the agency for its placement fee and monthly fee in writing. Ask too whether the carer is employed or self-employed, because that decides whether the subsidy is €800 or €1,600.

If you are in Germany, ask the agency which model it uses: posting, direct employment, or self-employment. For posting, ask to see the carer's A1 certificate, the proof of home-country social insurance.¹¹ Then work out who covers the remaining hours of the day. One carer legally cannot.