The Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Denitsa Sacheva, presented a licence for a new social service for residential care for the elderly in the village of Mezhden, Dulovo Municipality. It is the first one to receive such a licence from the Agency for Social Services Quality (ASSQ) after its creation and the entry into force of the Social Services Act. The three-storey building already accommodates three users and has a total capacity of 15 persons over 65 years of age. The service has devices that help persons with reduced mobility to move. It was inspected two months before the licence was issued, and the control will continue after the start of the care for the elderly.

Minister Sacheva pointed out that the process of deinstitutionalisation of services for the elderly will start in near future. To this end, under the OP “Human Resources Development”, 750 million BGN will be allocated in the next programming period for the construction and equipment of new centres for family-type accommodation. In 2021, 10 specialised institutions will be closed – five homes for adults with mental retardation and five for adults with mental disorders, and their users will be accommodated in the new type of services that meet the quality criteria.

The Agency for Social Services Quality is the body that can issue licences and revoke them in case of violations established. For the first time, it is regulated in the Social Services Act that ASSQ should license all private service providers for persons over 18 years of age.