site.btaOmbudsman's Office Proposes Establishment of Unified Register of All Social Services in Bulgaria

The Ombudsman’s Office has sent a letter to Labour and Social Policy Minister Borislav Gutsanov, proposing the establishment of a unified register of all social services in Bulgaria. The aim is to provide comprehensive and standardized information that would help citizens make informed decisions, the institution’s press service said on Tuesday. The proposal calls for the register to be accessible through the official websites of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Social Assistance Agency, the Agency for Quality of Social Services, as well as the regional and municipal administrations where the services are offered.

The Ombudsman’s Office suggests that the standard for presenting information should be detailed. It should include the name and type of the social service, a description, capacity, staffing (both specialized and non-specialized), accommodation arrangements, availability of medical care, fees, policies on maintaining contact with relatives, etc. The Ombudsman’s Office also proposes that private social service providers should be required to publish the license issued by the Agency for Quality of Social Services. Any suspension, revocation, or deletion of such licenses should also be made publicly available.

There is currently no unified information platform for social services, which makes it difficult for citizens to exercise their right to information and to exercise civil control, Dr. Aysun Avdjiev, Secretary General of the Ombudsman’s Office, said.

Following numerous inspections that uncovered illegally operated social services, as well as complaints received by the office, Avdjiev noted that citizens often struggle to access information about the type, scope, and quality standards of services available in their municipality or region.

The Ombudsman’s Office stressed that the lack of accessible and objective information drives people to rely on unverified sources and advertisements promoting unlicensed services that mimic and even compete with legitimate ones.

In early June, authorities discovered 75 elderly people living in poor conditions in illegal care homes in the village of Yagoda. Justice Minister Georgi Georgiev recently said that more than 500 inspections of elderly care homes have been carried out across the country.