News

6 February 2025

The Ombudsman Institution approached the Minister of Finance Temenuzhka Petkova  and the Minister of Social Policy Borislav Gutsanov on account of complaints from people with disabilities and their families who seek assistance to resolve the problem of limited funding for the Social Service Home Care, implemented under Project BG05SFPR002-2.001 for 2025.

The Ombudsman’s team sounds the alarm about the lack of predictability and security for people working in the social sector, including personal assistants to people with disabilities, the reason being the national 2025 budget that has not been approved yet.

We recall that the Ombudsman Institution has already drawn attention to the difficulties that arose for personal assistants under the Personal Assistance Act on account of the delayed payment of the due wages for the month of December 2024, while the beneficiaries of social benefits found themselves in a similar situation, as they could not rely on the payments due to them for a certain period.

“Home Care is one of the most desirable measures to support vulnerable people as it covers a significant number of people with disabilities and elderly people who are not self-sufficient and need support while they do not entitle to assistance from an assistant as the medical expert authorities judge”, the Secretary General of the Ombudsman Institution Dr. Aysun Avdjiev writes in the letters.

He emphasizes that a significant reduction in the funding and capacity of the social service is planned for 2025: from 41,000 service users in end-2024 to maximum 10,000 this year. That is, this a reduction of coverage by over 70%, which will lead to serious infringement of the rights and interests of citizens in need in a particularly vulnerable situation.

“The Ombudsman Institution of the Republic of Bulgaria has repeatedly emphasized the importance of projects implemented by municipalities to provide assistance services, of which the Home Care project is one, as they turn out to be the only option for people with disabilities who, for some reason, were assessed by the Territorial Expert Medical Board (TEMB) or the National Expert Medical Board (NEMB) but are deprived of specific assistance. In fact, the indicated group of citizens does not have adequate access to assistance, since their cases are treated neither in the Personal Assistance Act nor the Social Services Act”, the Secretary General of the Ombudsman adds.

Dr. Avdjiev argues with the fact that the Home Care service practically remains the only option for citizens with disabilities who, for some reason, were assessed by TEMB/NEMB, but were left without specific assistance. As per the rules in force and the available budget, these people can avail of the services within the project for maximum two hours a day, which for many of them is extremely insufficient and does not meet their real needs for support.

“In many cases, these are elderly people with disabilities who live alone in small populated areas and have no relatives or friends to help them. The health status of such citizens has become worse since their previous assessment by the medical examination authorities, but because of the non-availability of support, currently they are unable to go through the long TEMB process, which includes the presentation of an updated medical record to certify new illnesses. Deprived of the opportunity of re-assessment and entitlement to specific assistance, these citizens rely on the projects and programs implemented by the municipalities to provide them with assistance,” Dr. Avdjiev writes further.

In their reports to the Ombudsman Institution, people are concerned about the non-availability of information as to what will happen after the end of 2024 and what criteria will define who will be eligible this year.