EASPD has released 10 new country factsheets on the on the financing of care services for persons with disabilities. These factsheets provide an overview of the financing of different support services in Spain, Slovakia, Serbia, Portugal, Romania, Republic of Moldova, Italy, Finland, France and Hungary. Previously published in English in 2020, the reports are now all available in each country’s national language.

You can find all of the factsheets, as well as EASPD’s 2018/2019 Country Factsheets on Social Care & Support Services Sector for Persons with Disabilities, here.

The factsheets are divided into four chapters: Financing of Care services, Daycare, Long term Institutional Care and Respite care.

The factsheets highlight a number of key characteristics of funding systems in each country:  

In Spain social services are financed mainly from the budgets of the state. The main model of care is public private collaboration. The new public procurement directives contribute to create new social partnership agreements with service providers. The new system provides greater stability to the service providers, workers, and users. Access the factsheet for Spain in Spanish here, to access it in English, click here.

On the other hand, the Slovakian factsheet highlighted that the main funding model used is the reserved market model, where public funding reaches only a certain type of providers. Despite the launch of the deinstitutionalization process, which aimed to support community-based services,  in 2011, facilities providing long term residential care are still among the most numerous, with ongoing public funding being provided to them.  To read the Slovakian factsheet in Slovak click here. To access it in English, click here.

In Serbia,  research found that the key effects of the recent act on social care have been the encouragement of the pluralism of social care services providers, continued deinstitutionalization, as well as a decreased dependence of service providers on unsystematized project-based funding. To read the factsheet of Serbia in Serbian here.To read it in English, click here.

In Portugal, most care services for persons with disabilities are provided by nonprofit organizations with public funding through service agreements within a reserved market. To access the Portugal factsheet in Portuguese, click here. To read it in English, click here.

Alternativity,  the main findings which emerged from Romania is that currently data does not allow to draw a clear picture of the main funding model applicable to disability care services. Public provision is financed locally from funds transferred from the central budget and account for over 50%of disability care services. There is a lack of development of day care and home care services especially in rural areas is due to the governance of funding which leaves responsibility with the local level which in some cases is less well financed. To access the Romania factsheet in Romanian, click here. To read it in English, click here.

In Moldova are public procurement and sponsorship from development partners is common. Financing social services for adults with disabilities is the responsibility of the local public authorities. Read the Moldovan factsheet in Romania here.To read it in English, click here.

The main findings which emerged from Italy were that the Italian system of care suffers from heavy reliance on families and users’ budgets this creates an issue of sustainability as the population ages and family network of support shift towards narrow, multi-generational structures. Besides the lack of resources, the other key problem relates to regional inequalities in social care due to the reliance on local taxation to fund services. To read the factsheet of Italy in Italian here.To read it in English, click here.