Azores: People's houses advocate review of social sector financing

A installer of the delegation of the Azores of the Portuguese Confederation of People's Houses today defended a review of the social sector financing model in the region, warning the financial “asphyxiation” of the institutions.

“There is a difference [between the actual costs and the standard values provided for in the cooperation agreements] that is borne by the institutions, taking into account staff costs, inflation, food, energy, transport, maintenance issues [...]. This translates a suffocation for us as leaders of the social solidarity sector, and, of course, this model has to be reconsidered and revised”, said the president of the People's House of Santa Barbara, Durval Santos, in a press conference.

The committee of the Azores delegation, led by the president of the Casa do Povo da Maia, Jaime Rita, gave the Regional Secretary of Health and Social Security of the Azores a strategic letter on the homes of the people of the region, with “proposals and commitments for the development and sustainability of the social economy”.

Durval Santos, rapporteur of the document, stressed that the Code of Social Action of the Azores (CASA) has not been revised since 2014.

“ We have a virtually obsolete and archaic model, which concerns us very much and which has worked very hard in view of the caroline, creativity and the good management capacity of social leaders ", pointed out.

Carlos Estrela, president of the Casa do Povo de Rabo de Peixe, added that there is a “subfunding in almost all social responses”, recalling that a study was recently presented, commissioned by the Instituto da Ação Social dos Açores (ISSA), on the real costs of social responses, which confirms this scenario.

“The study presents reliable and real data. They must be worked on and solutions must be found. The Government of the Republic cannot and must not resign from its responsibilities, because what we are seeing here is a constant throwing of responsibilities into the region”, he said.

For the leader, there must be, for example, a “greater involvement of families in all the social responses that are negotiated”.

“ Continuing to talk about fully free day care may not be a future scenario. The costs exist and when there are costs there must be revenue, there must be funding, because if there is not, there is no capacity to pay to employees and suppliers. All parties involved in this process have to sit down and find the best solution and the best answers ", stressed.

The PS/Azores requested clarifications from the Regional Government (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) on the final report of the study of the actual costs of the Private Institutions of Social Solidarity (IPSS), for having doubts about its methodology.

Durval Santos said that those who question the consistency of this study are “offending” the leaders of the social sector.

“ They are saying that the data we transmit to the study is not true, not cohesive and not consistent. It is sometimes necessary that people before making any statement have a sense of what they say,” he said.

The president of the Casa do Povo de Santa Bárbara argued that transfers of funds to the institutions “must be regular and timely” and that there must be an annual automatic update of the cooperation agreements.

“If the minimum wage increases, the cooperation agreement must follow automatically,” he said, considering that the Government of the Republic should create a “positive increase” for the Azores as an island and outermost region.

“The Confederation of People’s Houses invites the Minister and the Secretary of State to visit the region, to have a real perception of the work that is done here,” he said.

To the Regional Government, the leaders ask for a “letter of comfort” that allows the institutions to resort to banking to meet their obligations to officials and suppliers when the Republic “fails” in the transfer of funds.

In the strategic letter, the houses of the people of the Azores also propose the creation of a White Paper, which serves as a “technical and strategic basis for the definition of public policies” in the area of social solidarity, and the creation of a regional observatory of the social economy, which produces periodic information and recommendations to support decision-making.

The leaders hope to meet with the holder of the Social Security portfolio in the Azores, after the election of the leadership of the regional delegation of the confederation, which will take place on December 5.

At the beginning of this month, the Regional Secretary of Social Security recognized the need to implement changes in the financing model of social action, when presenting a study that concluded that the real costs of social responses in the Azores are higher than the standard values provided for in cooperation contracts and, in some cases, higher than those on the continent.

Of the 112 houses of the people in the Azores, 80 have social valences.