Social services

Social services are the social intervention services carried out by social workers of public administrations to serve citizens and offer solutions and alternatives to situations of special need.

The aim of the Social Services is to prevent people from facing social barriers that prevent or hinder the exercise of their rights, as well as the enjoyment of a full life in the community, avoiding or reducing situations of social exclusion or lack of protection.

The Spanish Constitution (1978) establishes a division of competences between the State and the autonomous communities, differentiating the competences of social security that are of national scope from those of social assistance that pass to the autonomous scope. That same year, the National Institute of Social Services (INSERSO) was created to manage services complementary to the benefits of the social security system.

In 1988, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, and in particular the Directorate-General for Social Action, approved the Concerted Plan of Basic Benefits of Social Services to coordinate economic and technical cooperation between the General State Administration and the Autonomous Communities and to consolidate a network of locally managed social services with the entities. This plan introduces important changes in five areas:

1. Establishes a framework for collaboration and coordination between the State and the Autonomous Communities to jointly plan social services policies and programmes.
2. Establishes a financing system for social services, in which the State and the Autonomous Communities undertake to provide financial resources for the development of programmes and services.
3. Defines a catalogue of basic services social services to be provided, such as family support, care for children and adolescents, care for the elderly and care for people with disabilities or in situations of social exclusion.
4. Remark the importance of the active participation of citizens in the design, implementation and evaluation of social services policies and programmes.
5. Insists on the need to train and professionalise social service workers, to ensure the quality and effectiveness of the services offered.

The Concerted Plan establishes two levels of services: the General Social Services and the Specialized Social Services, establishing that both must work in a coordinated and complementary way to meet the social needs of the population:

• General Social Services: are those that aim to meet the basic social needs of the population, prevent situations of social exclusion and promote the social and community integration of people;
  • These are services and services of a universal nature, accessible to the entire population. They are offered by the municipalities and provincial councils in collaboration with the autonomous communities and the State.
  • These include information and guidance services, home help services, telecare services, child and adolescent care services, among others.
• Specialized Social Services: are those aimed at addressing the social needs of specific groups of the population in particularly vulnerable situations, such as people with disabilities, the elderly or people in situations of social exclusion;
  • These are services and services of a more specific and specialized nature, which require greater complexity and professionalization in their management.They are offered by the autonomous communities in collaboration with specialized entities, usually of the lucrative or non-profit private initiative.
  • Residential care services, care services for people with disabilities, care services for people in situations of social exclusion...

This Division of General Social Services and Specialized Social Services, which has been developed since then, the first municipal competition and the second regional, poses significant organisational and coordination challenges:

1. Different levels of competences and responsibilities, This often leads to confusion and overlap in attention to people.
2. Difficulties in the exchange of information and effective collaboration between stakeholders, often of a different nature, due to the lack of adequate information and coordination systems.
3. Complexity in the financing and organization of human and material resources, This limits their ability to provide quality care and to ensure comprehensive and personalised care for people in vulnerable situations.
4. Difficulties in identifying and addressing people's needs from a comprehensive perspective and from a preventive approach.

In addition to the catalogue of benefits, the plan defines the Basic Social Care Centers or first level:

• Social Service Centers: community centres with primary care professionals and technical teams, including Basic Social Work Units. Have the means to provide basic benefits;
  • Hostels and Reception Centers: social services intended to procure “temporarily” accommodation, maintenance, health care and education for people without economic means and in a situation of social exclusion, as well as support for their socio-occupational reintegration and reconstruction of their life project. 
  • Other complementary equipment: Information offices, day centers, sheltered flats and those that are attached or will be attached in the future to Social Services Centers.

The current Concerted Plan (2023) includes in its Reference Catalogue of Social Services the benefits to which people can access throughout the state territory and establishes the principles of common quality and good use. They are grouped under seven thematic axes which respond to different situations:

1. Information, guidance, advice, diagnosis and assessment.
2. Personal autonomy, home care and family respite.
3. Family intervention and support.
4. Intervention and protection of minors.
5. Residential care.
6. Prevention and social inclusion.
7. Legal protection.

In Spain, social services are the responsibility of the autonomous communities, so that each autonomous community will be responsible for regulating how social workers will operate and operate in that territory.

The first and closest care for people is provided from the municipalities through primary social care.

Although each Autonomous Community regulates the functions of its social services, as a general rule, they are responsible for promoting employment policies, managing the unemployment protection system and ensuring information on the labour market (among others).

In addition, they work in collaboration with the Autonomous Public Employment Services and other agents of the labor field for the insertion and permanence in the labor market of citizens.