How does the reform of the social welfare system affect us?

Last week was important for us and our activities, because the Parliament accepted the proposal of the Law on Social Welfare, and with that some of the legal institutes and provisions were partially regulated and harmonized with the practice in the neighboring countries. We still haven’t harmonized the entire legal framework for equalizing opportunities for PWDs, but we have made a big step forward.

Law on Social Welfare. https://www.zakon.hr/z/222/Zakon-o-socijalnoj-skrbi.

The reform consists of the law on social welfare, as the principal law of the reform, but also the accompanying six laws from the reform package for the area of social welfare – the law on foster care, and laws regulating psychotherapy, social work, educational-rehabilitation activities, psychological activities and social-pedagogical activities.

https://dip.hr/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/PZE_218.pdf

Concrete and immediately visible changes related to persons with disabilities, which will enter into effect in February, or, in some cases, by the end of 2022:

1. The Social Welfare Act foresees an increase in the maximum amount of the guaranteed minimum benefit (ZMN), from HRK 800 to HRK 1,000
2. an increase in the amount of personal disability allowance from HRK 1,500 to HRK 1,750 is also defined
3. as well as the removal of the census for exercising the right to personal disability allowance
4. the allowance for housing costs is also redefined
5. the amount of compensation for the personal needs of the beneficiary of the right based on accommodation or organized housing is increased
6. the circle of persons who can be granted the right to caregiver status is also expanded, thereby encouraging children with developmental difficulties and persons with disabilities to stay in their own homes, thereby preventing their institutionalization
7. new services are also prescribed – comprehensive assessment and planning, previous expert assessment, social mentoring and psychosocial treatment for the prevention of violent behavior
8. the new way of contracting social services will simplify the process of public invitations for submitting bids and concluding contracts, and will enable unified access to the network for providing services, as well as standardization of processes and quality of services, equality and transparency in financing
9. it is also proposed to establish three public institutions – the Croatian Institute for Social Work as a public institution, which will perform its tasks in central and regional services, instead of the rather fragmented centers for social welfare, then the Family Center and the Academy of Social Welfare

The entire reform system is shown here:

https://vlada.gov.hr/UserDocsImages//Vijesti/2021/listopad/04%20listopada//Prezentacija%20-%20Reforma%20sustava%20socijalne%20skrbi.pdf.

Since there is a lack of social service providers for our priority group at the national level, as well as at the level of the County, our development directions and the practice of seeking community, city and county support are completely in line with the National Plan for the Development of Social Services:

https://mrosp.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/dokumenti/Glavno%20tajništvo/Godišnji%20planovi%20i%20strateška%20zviješća/Nacionalni%20plan%20razvoja%20social%20usluga%20za%20zodbolje%20od%20%202021.%20to %202027.%20godine.pdf

Likewise, our Strategic Development Plan is in line with the National Plan for Equalizing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.

National plan for equalizing opportunities for Persons with Disabilities from 2021 to 2027 proposal.

Image taken from: http://www.inclusion-europe.eu/european-commission-presents-strategy-for-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities-2021-2030/