The Social Protection Institute of the Republic of Slovenia / Areas / Social care services and programs
Area

Social care services and programs

SERVICES

Social care services are designed to prevent and eliminate social distress and problems or challenges and risks (social prevention) and include activities and assistance for self-help for individuals, families, and population groups.

Home help or social care at home is intended for people who have the conditions to live in their own environment but are unable to care for themselves due to old age or severe disability. This is social care for beneficiaries in the event of disability, old age, and in other cases where it can replace institutional care. In 2008, we at IRSSV began systematic monitoring of this service in all Slovenian municipalities. We regularly update key information on the map of municipalities.

Institutional care is a form of care provided in an institution, another family, or another organized form that replaces, supplements, or provides the function of a home or one’s own family for beneficiaries. The service providers are nursing homes, special social care institutions, social care institutions for training, and alternative forms of accommodation and care.

At IRSSV, we monitor the provision of services in occupational activity centres. These centers provide guidance, care, and employment services under special conditions, which is an organized form of care that gives users the opportunity to actively participate in social life and the work environment and to perform useful work appropriate to their abilities. They may also provide institutional care services and day care. Occupational activity centres also implement a special education and training program for children, adolescents, and adults up to the age of 26 in accordance with school legislation and institutional child care regulations.

Sheltered housing represent one of the alternative forms of accommodation in Slovenia and are located on a continuum between home care and institutional care. Various and inconsistent practices have developed in the provision of care, which is reflected primarily in the role of the caregiver, the provision of remote care, and the highly heterogeneous prices of rent and care. Therefore, in 2015, the IRSSV prepared an analysis of the organisation and implementation of care. The inadequate and unclear legal and formal regulations and the unclear vision of assisted living call for a systemic regulation of the area. Key information about locations, number of apartments, and contact details is updated on the map and list of sheltered housing.

 

Programme

The social care system in Slovenia provides various forms of assistance to individuals and groups in social distress. Social care programs are designed to prevent and resolve the social hardship of vulnerable population groups and complement or serve as an alternative to social care services and measures. They are co-financed through public tenders. According to the currently valid Resolution on the National Social Care Program 2022-2030, the restructuring of the network of social care programs will be carried out gradually, from the previous ten content areas to five different types of programs according to intensity, continuity, and forms of assistance and support provided to users.

Monitoring the implementation of social protection programs has been one of the regular annual tasks of the IRSSV for many years. The analysis provides insight into the development of the network of social protection programs financially supported by the MDDSZ and the pluralization of this network.

In order to make contact details for programs co-financed by the MDDSZ more widely available to the public, in 2010 we published basic information about the programs on the IRSSV website for the first time, in a user-friendly and simple format. The list of providers and programs for the current year can be found on the subpage here (map and table).

System for evaluating publicly verified social care programs (JVSP)

JVSPs are implemented on the basis of verification or guidelines published in public calls for (co-)financing. All JVSPs that have obtained a certificate of professional verification from the Social Chamber of Slovenia (SZS) and have been co-financed by the Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities for several years are included in the regular national assessment system. To this end, we at IRSSV have developed an evaluation model and measurement instruments, prepared an online application for data entry called Evapro©, and written a manual for using the application. A complete overhaul of the evaluation system is currently underway in accordance with the new Resolution (ReNPSV 2022–2030). To this end, an expert working group has been established (composed of experts from the FSD, MDDSZ, SZS, IRSSV, and representatives of JVSP).

We have developed an application (database) for recording services provided in public social care programs. EVAPRO is an interactive application designed for monthly, semi-annual, and annual reporting to the Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Affairs, and Equal Opportunities.

Within the field of programs and services we address the following subfields:

  • home help within the public service network
  • sheltered housing
  • occupational activity centres
  • social care programs
  • evaluations of public verified social care programs (EVAPRO)