More than 2 billion and a thousand professionals to reinforce municipal social services

BarcelonaOne of the Government's pending duties in terms of social services was to update the budget allocated to town councils and county councils for the care of people in situations of social vulnerability, dependency, and poverty, which had not been renewed since 2025. With this money, the local sphere finances the care for children and adolescents and for people in situations of homelessness, as well as the salaries of workers who provide home care, to name a few examples. This Wednesday, the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, signed a new agreement for the 2027-2030 period that plans to allocate more than 2 billion euros and incorporate more than 1,000 new professionals into local social services over the next four years.

The head of the Catalan executive presided over the signing ceremony of this new program contract, which was also attended by the Minister of Social Rights and Inclusion, Raúl Moreno; the president of the Catalan Association of Municipalities (ACM), Meritxell Budó, and the president of the Federation of Municipalities of Catalonia (FMC), David Bote. The total figure is divided into 2.181 billion euros directly for the framework agreement and 136.3 million euros for adapted transport actions and youth policies.

One of the novelties is the way in which town councils and county councils will finance social services. Until now, the system worked through a series of individual supporting files that required a "burdensome review process throughout the year", according to sources from Social Rights. With the new model, almost all funds will be processed as a direct transfer and only a small percentage will be maintained as a traditional subsidy. The town councils will communicate the intervention carried out in each case and the department will effect the payment. "This reduces bureaucratic work and allows for a faster, more efficient, and modern relationship between administrations," the same sources defend.

The new plan also includes an improvement in the salary of people who work in the Home Care Service (SAD), a demand from the sector. The Government plans to increase the price per hour of the service from the current 24 euros to 27 euros in 2027 and, from there, it will rise by one euro each year until it reaches 30 euros per hour in 2030. From Social Services, they remark that this entails "a very important effort," since every extra euro paid for this service means 7 million more euros for the Government.

More hiring

The Government has broken down the thousand new hires that it expects municipalities to make under this new plan. On one hand, primary care will be reinforced with 276 additional professionals for the Basic Social Services Teams (EBAS) for management, coordination, and direct care tasks. In the area of child and adolescent care (EAIA), 472 new personnel will be added—including coordination and administration figures—to reduce the institutionalization of minors. Regarding the fight against homelessness, the deployment will include 115 new profiles, distributed between 93 street educators (74 in 2027 and 19 in 2028) and 22 specialized references in the territory. In addition, 15 new technicians will be added to reinforce youth policies in rural environments.

Last week the Minister of Social Rights and Inclusion, Raúl Moreno, already announced that the Catalan executive will allocate double what is currently invested so thatmunicipalities can tackle homelessness, and that it will go from 62.2 million euros for the 2022-2025 period to a total of 133 million euros until 2030. Furthermore, this increase will fund 1,100 new accommodation and care places distributed throughout the various Catalan municipalities, among which Barcelona is not included, as it coordinates the fight against this scourge through another channel with the department because the problem is more serious in the capital.