Personal assistance

Personal assistance (PA) is a means that enables people who, due to disability, need help from others in their daily lives and who can, either alone or with the help of a legal representative, give instructions to others on how to provide assistance, to live independently and enjoy a better quality of life. It enables users to perform activities like other people: live in the community, get an education, find employment, engage in hobbies, be politically active, start families, and care for their children. PA covers all areas of life and is tailored to the needs, wishes, and lifestyle of each individual user. It contributes to deinstitutionalization and, as such, also represents a right under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Article 19, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No. 37/2008). In February 2017, Slovenia adopted the Personal Assistance Act (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, Nos. 10/2017 and 31/2018) (ZOA), which came into force in January 2019.

Before the ZOA came into force, PA was implemented in Slovenia by disability organizations. PA was financed on a project basis, through various calls for proposals (by the Employment Service of Slovenia, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, the Foundation for the Financing of Disability and Humanitarian Organizations, and municipalities) as well as by users themselves. There were no nationally established guidelines on needs assessment, entry criteria, PA implementation content, etc., so the providers themselves decided how and to whom they would provide PA and which services they would implement within their programs.

From 2015 until the implementation of the ZOA, the IRSSV systematically monitored data on the implementation of personal assistance programs and, on this basis, prepared analyses that helped shape legislative solutions in the field of PA. In 2018, the IRSSV prepared a tool for assessing eligibility for PA (ZOjA) for the purposes of implementing the ZOA. Based on the findings of the evaluation of the introduction of the ZOA, which the IRSSV carried out after one year of implementation, it proceeded to revise the ZOjA assessment tool. This was done within the framework of a working group that included representatives of disability organizations with a long history of implementing PA programs. Once the working group had completed its work, the IRSSV coordinated the tool with the client, the MDDSZ.

In 2021, an amendment to the ZOA (Act Amending the Personal Assistance Act – ZOA-B (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No. 172/21 of 29 October 2021)) imposed new tasks on the IRSSV in addition to professional support in the implementation of the ZOA, namely: training users, their legal representatives, personal assistants, professional managers, and personal assistance coordinators; training members of professional commissions; and establishing an expert body, which has been operating within the IRSSV since March 2022.