📋 Tender Overview
Minister of Labor Pension System Family and Social Policy and President of the National Council for the Development of Social Policies Josip Aladrovic said on Tuesday that the final text of the Action Plan for the Improvement of the Social Welfare System was accepted by a majority vote. In a statement to reporters after the Council session he noted that he had been accepted by the entire social policy community and agreed with those promoted by the ministry. We presented our vision of the Foster Care Act and all the challenges it faces but also the changes that will occur through the three national plans that are necessary to make good use of funds from the European Social Fund said Aladrovic. He pointed out that the changes in the social welfare system are very extensive and relate to the Social Welfare Act the Foster Care Act five chamber laws and three national plans which are linked to three action plans and an action plan for improving the social welfare system. version accepted today. Fee increaseThe changes include the reorganization of part of the system a certain centralization and separation of the preventive and repressive role of the centers then the establishment of an academy whose meaning is lifelong learning the opening of the system to the public through the complaints and petitions commission. Also said Aladrovi it is planned to increase benefits from the context of social welfare system users in order to reduce the rate of poverty and social deprivation. These are financially generous laws but as the Government we have decided to do so in our program and these are the first steps in that direction the minister said. Responding to a journalists inquiry he said that it was an increase in fees among other things for foster care and supplies. In cooperation with UNICEF we expect to create a campaign and more actively involve social care centers in order to have a sufficient number of foster parents and we expect an increase of 10 percent and to adjust their compensation to the minimum necessary to satisfy user groups he said. Redefined and relaxed conditions for foster parentsWe plan to redefine and relax the conditions for foster parents through legal changes that will soon be found in the public consultation and we expect that this will reduce the challenges they face. We expect that the legal changes will come into force at the beginning of next year from January 1 2022 and now we have three months of intensive work on legislative regulations ahead of us said Aladrovi. He announced a significant increase in fees through the definition of the amount of supplies and fees. Regarding employment in the social welfare system Aladrovi reminded that they initially announced the employment of 200 people saying that 192 people have been employed so far ie 96 percent of the planned. We are constantly improving the system by working on the professional competencies of the workers he pointed out. As for their powers it is not realistic to meet all the requirements set before us by certain associations or chambers but we have transferred part of the powers to other bodies to act and we see this as a concrete step forward said Aladrovi. Regarding the most important benefits for personal disability benefits primarily for the allowance for someone elses help and care he announced that this will be addressed in the next period. Regarding the case of Severina Vuckovic the minister said that the allegations from her last weeks interview and the circumstances related to the actions of the Zagreb Center for Social Welfare and its branches were being checked. Its an extraordinary administrative oversight and we expect to have preliminary reports early next week and to find out everything thats been going on. We do not want to side with anyone and the only thing that matters to us is the interest of the child the minister said. Aladrovi confirmed that the COVID certificates in the social welfare system will start on October 1 and that they are related to the health care system. He pointed out that in this way they show that they are responsible and in order to prevent the spread of covids among the beneficiary groups and in the social welfare system itself. He noted that according to the latest available data the vaccination coverage of employees is about 70 percent and users almost 85 percent. Antun Ilija from the Croatian Chamber of Social Welfare said that part of their powers transferred from the pension system administratively clogged the system and that because of that they could not do the professional part of the job well. These things have been imposed on us and have not always been in the system so we now want to get rid of them. Another 650 employees are missing in the social welfare system which is not a small number Ilija warned. He also said that due to the centralization of the system it will no longer be a center in the local community but an institution from which the guidelines will go which he said will set back the existing system which is why Ilija abstained from voting.
