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"European Social Fund Plus aids lower-income families in Austria, enabling them to commence their children's schooling"

Funding from the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection has been utilized for the initiative 'School Starter Ready'. This initiative provides vouchers worth EUR 150 to pupils to aid in the buying of school supplies.

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Commencement of Schools Eased for Low-Income Families: European Social Fund Plus Provides...
Commencement of Schools Eased for Low-Income Families: European Social Fund Plus Provides Assistance in Austria

"European Social Fund Plus aids lower-income families in Austria, enabling them to commence their children's schooling"

The European Union's ESF+ (European Social Fund Plus) and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs are joining forces to support families with school-age children in Austria. This collaboration, known as the "School Start Ready" action, has been issuing vouchers for school supplies since the 2015/2016 school year.

Adopted under the EU Regulation 223/2014, the action provides in-kind services to support school start packages. Eligibility is extended to families who received minimum security or social assistance in June 2025, with the vouchers being distributed to eligible students up to the age of 24.

Each schoolchild will receive a voucher worth 150 euros in August 2025. The vouchers must be activated and redeemed by October 31, 2025.

The financing of the "Schulstartklar!" program, which provides 140,000 vouchers for school supplies, is jointly carried out by ESF+ and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Social Affairs. ESF+, the oldest EU financing tool for investments in people, established in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome, has a budget of €99.3 billion across the EU for the period 2021-2027.

Austria has €409 million available from ESF+ for the same period. ESF+ combines 4 financing instruments: the European Social Fund, the European Fund for the Most Deprived of Persons (FEAD), the Youth Employment Initiative, and the European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI). However, the Youth Employment Initiative is not relevant for Austria.

FEAD, on the other hand, provides food and/or material basic support to the most deprived persons.

Affected families can obtain the voucher digitally for the first time by setting up a "School Start App" and scanning the QR code. For those who prefer a printed voucher, collection points of the "Volkshilfe" and its partner organizations throughout Austria will be available from August 4 to September 12, 2025.

ESF+ aims to create equal opportunities for all people in the labor market and supports measures to prevent and combat unemployment, expand training offers, and improve the functioning of the labor market. The "School Start Ready" action covers kindergarten, primary school, general upper secondary school, vocational upper secondary school or middle school, polytechnic school, and vocational school.

By providing these vouchers, the EU and Austria are working together to ensure that every child has the resources they need to start the school year off right, regardless of their family's financial situation.

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