Nine councilors from as many Lombardy capitals yesterday sent a letter to the Minister of Labor and Social Policies, Maria Elvira Calderone, and to the Councilor for Family, Social Solidarity, Disability and Equal Opportunities of the Lombardy Region, Elena Lucchini, to express their concerns regarding the regional operational program for the use of the Fund for Non Self-sufficiency.
The Region, with Dgr 1669 of 28 December, provided for a reduction in contributions to caregivers, shifting that share of resources to the provision of services. The increase in the percentage share of the Fund on direct assistance is foreseen by the National Non Self-sufficiency Plan 2022-2024: the Plan, however, provides that the regions can continue to provide monetary contributions and indirect assistance with their own resources.
The nine councilors who signed the letter are Marcella Messina (Bergamo), Lamberto Bertolé (Milano), Marco Fenaroli (Brescia), Egidio Riva (Monza), Molinari Roberto (Varese), Emanuele Manzoni (Lecco), Rosita Viola (Cremona), Andrea Caprini (Mantua), Simonetta Pozzoli (Praise). the absence of the signatures of the councilors of the Municipalities of Como, Pavia and Sondrio is therefore striking. In the letter, the Municipalities describe the effects that the Region’s choice causes: «people with disabilities who today experience a problematic situation, despite the efforts made in recent years in the area to build service networks which have not always seen adequate funding recognized , will see the economic contributions assigned to them directly further reduced. These are around 17 thousand beneficiaries (around 7 thousand for measure B1 and 10 thousand for B2)”. The second effect that the councilors declare is “the difficulty for the Territorial Areas and their social services to design, plan and implement within the defined times, therefore by next June, the services that should support non-self-sufficient people and their home caregivers” : they therefore confirm a critical issue that families and associations had immediately highlighted, namely that the voucher for services ultimately turns out to be “waste paper” since the additional services will not be there and the “movement” ends up being a “cut ”.
Our hope was that the services would be implemented and that these would be added to the meager economic benefits provided to date to people with disabilities and their families
“Our hope was that the services would be implemented and that these would be added to the meager economic benefits provided to date to people with disabilities and their families”, write the councilors. «This application, within the expected times and methods, poses critical issues not only for caregivers and the non-self-sufficient person but also for the service system».
The councillors, in the letter dated 18 January, ask the ministry and the Region «to implement the funds allocated for the year 2024 in order to allow the economic contribution guaranteed until last year to be left unchanged and to begin the implementation of the services by the Territorial Social Areas gradually or alternatively a postponement of the application of the same to 2025″: this is their proposal. To talk about it, they ask for a moment of discussion with the regional department, also involving the welfare department of Anci Lombardia, to define the tools and resources for the necessary implementation of the service network.
Photo from Pixabay