Liechtenstein - Need for long-term care
This chapter describes the support you may receive when long-term care is required. The following benefits are addressed:
- support and care allowances
- helplessness allowance.
In what situation can I claim?
In general, all persons resident in Liechtenstein who are not living in a care home or staying in a hospital as an inpatient are entitled to a support and care allowance. Conditions require that the need for support and care will last at least three months, and an average daily care requirement of more than 1 hour provided by a remunerated third party is necessary.
All persons in Liechtenstein with statutory health insurance are entitled to a helplessness allowance. It may also be granted to persons with accident insurance (covering accidents at work and occupational diseases).
What conditions do I need to meet?
You must need long-term support or care that requires services by a third party requiring remuneration in order to claim care benefits.
What am I entitled to and how can I claim?
There are 6 benefit levels depending on the time each day that a remunerated third party requires in order to provide support and care. They range from benefit level 1 where more than 1 hour of support and care is required each day with a daily allowance of CHF 10 to benefit level 6 where more than 7.5 hours are required each day with a daily allowance of CHF 180.
The average daily time needed for support and/or care by a third party is determined by on-site qualified clarification staff using a standardised survey design developed for this purpose.
The degree of care required is regularly reviewed, usually once a year. However, the timespan is set individually depending on each case.
Jargon busters
A person is considered ‘helpless’ if they depend on constant help by a third person, or requires long-term care or personal supervision for the 6 everyday tasks of getting up, getting dressed, personal hygiene, eating, social contact and relieving themselves. The maximum helplessness allowance, i.e. for a severe level of helplessness, is CHF 952. Helplessness allowances of CHF 714 and CHF 476 also exist for medium and low levels of severity respectively.
Forms you may need to fill in
Know your rights
The links below provide additional legal information; they do not link to European Commission websites and do not reflect its views.
- Fact sheet on support and care allowances
- Website of the unit competent for home care and support
- ‘Pflegegeld-Information durch LSB März 2014.pdf’ on the Liechtensteiner Seniorenbund website
European Commission publications:
Who do you need to contact?
Liechtensteinische AHV-IV-FAK
Gerberweg 2
Postfach 84
9490 Vaduz
LIECHTENSTEIN
Tel. +423 2381616
Fax +423 2381600
Email: ahv@ahv.li