Benefit reform in Austria to tackle widespread inactivity

This chapter looks at the role Austria’s benefit system plays in providing people with mental ill-health with a secure income in periods of inactivity and helping them stay in, or return to, the labour market. The chapter focuses particularly on the 2013 disability benefit reform. To tap into its considerable potential, Austria must rise to the challenge of implementing rigorously the new roles of various institutions. Issues are discussed against the backdrop of the frequent mental health problems among people who receive working-age benefits and the fast increase, over the past twenty years, in the number of disability benefit claims for reasons of poor mental health.