The managers’ association appreciates improvements in dependency but warns that the islands are behind in the number of workers
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, September 8 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Canary Islands have approved for the first time in the last decade the ‘DEC 2022 Index’ prepared by the Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services with a score of 5.09 points that places the islands as the tenth autonomous community.
The association highlights the archipelago as the most notable case of recovery of its social services system since until recently it was systematically occupying the last place in terms of its development and with a rating of “irrelevant.”
Thus, the approval of the catalog of social services and integration of all local entities in the dependency system – in 2017 – is seen as an “important step”, and now only “strategic planning” is pending to put in order the entire structure of social services.
The report also sees the economic contribution to the system as “very relevant”, with all indicators above the state average, with 513.6 euros of investment per inhabitant compared to the 462.7 euros of the state average, plus a global increase of budget of the three public administrations of 8.2% in 2021.
Furthermore, despite the decrease registered in 2021 compared to 2020, the percentage of GDP represented by spending on social services – 2.62% – remains above the state average, which is 1.82%, and the The percentage of the total budget of the public administrations of the Canary Islands that is allocated to social services has increased two points in 2021 compared to the previous year to 11.7%, with the state average being 9.3%.
The islands are also placed above the state average in services for people with disabilities, home help, foster care for minors and places for victims of gender violence.
However, as aspects to improve, the report details that the Canary Islands are at the bottom of the care network with one professional for every 3,241 inhabitants, while the state average is one professional for every 1,651 inhabitants; in dependency care, where it goes from 16 points to 29 in 2022 but is still far from the 51 state average and in residential places for the elderly, with a rate of 1.80% compared to 2.69% of the state average .
Regarding insertion income, they are only received by 4.2% of the population that is below the poverty line – the state average is 7.7% – although it has increased by 19% since 2021.
The managers also warn of the “imbalances” that social services present in the Canary Islands, weighed down by their “inefficiency”, derived in part from their island reality and although the economic contribution to the system has increased, it still does not correspond to the offer of benefits and services and there are many ‘paper rights’.
Thus, they call it “urgent” to undertake territorial planning in which the councils, large municipalities and the Canarian Government reach a “global agreement” towards a structured model of social services that goes far beyond the mere delegation of
competencies.
“OVERLAPS AND INEFFICIENCIES”
“The current overlaps and inefficiencies continue to be a burden that has important consequences for the population of the Canary Islands by significantly reducing coverage,” they point out.
At the national level, the association has noted a “stagnation” or even a “setback” after the pandemic in social services aimed at older people, such as places in residences, day centers, home help or telecare.
According to the DEC 2022 Index, the coverage of publicly funded residential places grows by 0.06% between 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2021, going from 2.63% to 2.69% ; while coverage in day centers falls from 1.08% in 2019 to 1.05% in 2021, 0.03% less.
For its part, home help coverage has remained at around 5% since 2018 and its intensity, although increasing, is still below 20 hours per month; and telecare coverage has dropped from 10.2% in 2019 to 9.9% in 2021, according to the report.
Thus, the authors of the study point out that although there is an “improvement” in the organization of the sector, “the low budget increase limits the offer of services and benefits” to citizens.
“If I had to make a headline I would say that social services, after these 10 years, have managed to have a social protection system of paper rights,” said the president of the a, José Manuel Ramírez, this Friday, in a conference of press.
As he stated, “a lot of progress has been made in regulations” and in “the image of social services” but “coverage remains the same” as it was a decade ago. “It’s terrible,” Ramírez lamented.
The authors of the report have also denounced that “many” autonomous communities have “dismantled” their minimum insertion income (RMI), with the arrival of the Minimum Living Income, and have dedicated the approximately “1,500 million euros” of them to another purpose.
According to the report, in 2020 there were 794,567 people in Spain who received RMI, 9% of people below the poverty line; and in 2021 there were 644,136, 7.7%, 150,431 fewer people (19% less). A total of 13 communities have reduced their RMI recipients and four have increased them.
The study also reveals that the spending that administrations dedicate to social services is “slowing down”, with an increase in 2021 of 3.5% compared to the previous year (15.8 euros more). The percentage of GDP represented by spending on public social services was 1.8% in 2021, six hundredths less, which would have meant, according to the Association, “almost 1,000 million euros more”, if the previous year’s percentage had been maintained. .
Furthermore, although in 2021 the participation of the CCAA in the financing of the system increased more than two points, the trend since 2012 has been decreasing: that year it was 85.3%, and in 2022 it was 71.8%, 14.5 points. less.
This setback occurs even taking into account the increase in funding by the Ministry of Social Rights in matters of Dependency, which suggests, according to the directors of social services, that “some (eleven, according to the Dependency Observatory), have used this increase in state funding to reduce their own contributions.
NAVARRE AND CASTILLA Y LEÓN, THE BEST VALUED
By CCAA, the study reflects that twelve autonomous communities improve the score of their social services in the DEC Index, with Navarra and Castilla y León being the best valued. For their part, the Balearic Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, Cantabria and Catalonia worsen.
The study warns of “large differences” between territories. Without considering the communities with a regional regime, such as the Basque Country, with 1,007 euros of spending per inhabitant on social services, there are differences such as the one between Extremadura, with 561 euros, and Murcia, with 340 euros, 65% less .
Regarding the percentage of regional GDP that Public Administrations allocate to Social Services, the Basque Country allocates 3.1% and the Canary Islands 2.6%, percentages that triple those of the Community of Madrid, with 1%.
