Agencies must submit a cost sheet – collection authorizations must be agreed in writing
Vienna (OTS) – From September 1, 2024, placement agencies for 24-hour carers must communicate their prices and services transparently and provide a detailed cost sheet before signing a contract. This is what the amendment to a regulation for personal care, which was announced today, provides for. It also creates more legal certainty for debt collection agreements: If the fee for the carers is paid to the agency, this must be agreed in writing. Such an agreement can be terminated at any time. “Affected families must know what costs they will really face,” emphasizes Social Minister Johannes Rauch. “With this new regulation, we are creating transparency and ensuring more legal certainty for both the affected families and 24-hour carers.” ***
In Austria, the care of people in need of care in private households is carried out almost exclusively by self-employed 24-hour carers. Around 34,000 personal carers are active throughout Austria as part of the funding model. They are mostly placed by agencies, which each conclude a contract with the person being cared for and their carer.
In order to create more security for 24-hour carers and their clients, agencies are now required to be more transparent: From September 1, they must provide a detailed cost sheet when they first make contact. It must also be included in advertising, for example on the company’s website. The cost sheet must contain the prices for the agency’s individual services, the total cost of the placement and the terms of payment.
In future, the new regulation will make it possible to better estimate the actual costs involved and to compare the offers of placement agencies in advance. The agencies must provide information about the contents of the cost sheet before the contract is concluded and send the cost sheet to the contracting parties in writing.
“In practice, carers and their clients are repeatedly confronted with hidden costs. A major reason for this is the lack of transparent information provided by agencies when making placements,” stresses Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch. “In the future, all price information must be put on the table and communicated in writing. This will prevent many disputes both between agencies and carers and between agencies and clients.”
More legal certainty for debt collection authorizations
In many cases, personal carers do not receive their fees directly from their clients, but rather from the placement agency via a collection authorization. This authorizes the agency to demand the fees from its clients and pay them to the carers. The agency keeps part of the fee as commission.
In order to create more legal certainty, a debt collection authorization must not only be included in the cost sheet in future, but also be drawn up in writing when the contract is concluded. In future, the debt collection authorization can also be terminated at any time. “In this way, we prevent such agreements from binding the parties in the long term, even if they were signed without thinking when the contract was concluded,” stresses Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch.
Inquiries & Contact:
Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection (BMSGPK)
press officer@sozialministerium.at
sozialministerium.at
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