Completing the reform of deinstitutionalization in childcare, developing a National Map of Social Services and ensuring more effective support for the most needy, and developing policies for economic activation of the inactive with a focus on youth and people with disabilities. These were part of the priorities that the Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivanka Shalapatova presented at a press conference together with her deputies Ginka Stancheva, Maya Vasileva, Nikolay Naydenov, and Desislava Stoyanova.

"Two hundred children still live in specialized institutions - four homes for medical and social care, which are under the Ministry of Health. They should have been taken out of there already last year. My team has already mobilized the best specialists so that when the removal of these children begins, we will be ready to place them in the most suitable environment for them. We will work for their reintegration into the family or with relatives and friends, but we must not forget that many of these children have multiple disabilities and need very specific medical and social care," Minister Shalapatova explained.

The ultimate goal in the social sphere is to propose changes in the legislation in the sphere of social support for children and families by the end of 2024, which will allow their needs to be effectively met. "This support will include a complex of measures to provide integrated social, educational and medical-social services according to the individual needs of children and families and additional financial assistance," summarized the Minister of Labor and Social Policy.

Work continues at an accelerated pace to develop and adopt a National Map of Social Services by the end of 2023 by the Council of Ministers. "It will step on the identified need for specific social services at the local level." These are 293 analyzes that must be processed and will give a clear picture of where and what services are missing in order to be created," Minister Shalapatova explained.

She emphasized that with investments in the amount of BGN 753 million, 250 new social and integrated health and social services for residential care and specialized social services with a total capacity of 7,500 people with disabilities will be created. Under the Recovery and Resilience Plan, 81 homes for the elderly will also be renovated so that they can live in better conditions with more opportunities for socialization and participation in community life.

"I made a commitment to start providing aid to flood victims by the end of June, and that has happened. So far, 231 affected households have been paid one-time assistance in the total amount of BGN 264,346," reported Minister Shalapatova. The Employment Agency has provided an opportunity for nearly 210 unemployed people to be included in the emergency teams of the affected municipalities to clean up the affected properties and infrastructure.

Problems have been identified with the effectiveness of the support of up to BGN 2,500 through the "Social Protection" Fund, which can be granted in crisis situations such as floods, earthquakes, fires, or other disasters. "There is already a decision of the Management Board to change the conditions for application, which will make the fund more flexible in terms of granting this aid, and very soon this will be a fact," declared Ivanka Shalapatova.

"Regarding the labor market, the priority in the national employment policy is to increase digital skills and the quality of the workforce. According to the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, MLSP is preparing the launch of a project that plans to train 200,000 unemployed and employed people to acquire basic or intermediate level digital skills by mid-2024," explained Ivanka Shalapatova.

She announced that the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs is currently working on the drafting of a completely new Law on the Promotion of Employment, which would provide a complex of flexible measures to activate the inactive, especially the youth, and to realize the labor market for people with disabilities. "We must show disabled people that we perceive them not as people with specific needs, but as people with opportunities that can be used by employers and contribute to the development of society," said the Minister of Labor and Social Policy .

In support of people from vulnerable groups, Minister Shalapatova announced the campaign for accepting applications for heating aid, launched at the beginning of July. After the changes made in the social legislation, the number of those supported is expected to increase by about 25,000 to 327,000 people and families. Higher pension and welfare incomes will not affect people's right of access.

Almost 48,000 applications for one-off student aid for the 2023/2024 school year have also already been submitted. The disbursement of the aid will begin after the adoption of the State Budget Act for 2023.

“We realize the encompassing nature of the goals we have set for ourselves as a team. But we also realize that this is not a one-time reform, but a comprehensive process. Partial work of MLSP is over. We have very intensive cooperation with the Ministry of Health, with the Ministry of Education and Science, with other ministries with which we have common policies. An indicator that we have succeeded in achieving our goals will be the satisfaction of our partners from our joint work and the people from the provided support," said the Minister of Labor and Social Policy.