NIK on personal assistant services for people with disabilities

The number of people with a disability certificate in Poland is steadily increasing year after year. In 2020, a total of nearly 92,000 children under the age of 16 had a disability certificate, and in 2022 the number increased by almost 10%. The increase was also true for adults with disabilities. In 2020, there were just under 807 thousand people over the age of 18 with severe disabilities, and in 2022 their number reached almost 948 thousand, an increase of 17.5%. For those with a moderate degree of disability, the increase over the period was smaller, at just over 5%.

Poland ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2012. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities committed to introducing instruments to realize the right of persons with disabilities to live independently, which includes the availability of personal assistant services. The Convention requires states to ensure that people with disabilities have access to a wide range of services, including personal assistants.

For years, the communities of people with disabilities have been raising the need for a service that will allow this group of people to be more independent and self-reliant on the help of family and loved ones, and provide assistance in performing daily activities and functioning in society. The Personal Assistant Program for Persons with Disabilities and Personal Assistants for Persons with Disabilities are the answer to these needs.

In 2019-2021, a total of 22,761 people with disabilities were provided with personal assistance services nationwide under the Program.

Goal of the Program and increase in interest in assistant services

The Program is primarily intended to improve the functioning of people with disabilities in their environment, increase opportunities to meet their needs and integrate these people into society. Under the Program, people with disabilities can count on the assistance of assistants in, among other things, performing activities of daily living, running official errands, using cultural goods (e.g., museum, theater, cinema, art gallery, exhibition) or driving and picking up children with a disability certificate to/from an educational institution. The legal basis for the Program is the Solidarity Fund Law of 2018.

More and more people with disabilities are taking advantage of personal assistance services as part of the departmental MRiPS Program, implemented by both local governments and NGOs. In 2020, there were nearly 10,000 of them in total, and by 2021, twice as many.

Majority of respondents satisfied with Program

The NIK conducted an anonymous survey of 439 users of personal assistance services and, in the case of children under 16, their caregivers. The completed questionnaires were returned by 255 people (58%). The results of the survey showed that 235 respondents (about 92%) were very satisfied with the support, 18 people (7%) were satisfied. Only two people did not express satisfaction with the support they received. 212 respondents (about 83%) using the assistance services are more likely to spend time away from home than before joining the Program. As many as 221 people (almost 87%) said they are better able to cope with difficult life situations thanks to the assistant's assistance, while only eight people (about 3%) assessed that the support they receive is unlikely to affect their ability to cope with difficult life situations. A change in life for the better, since joining the Program, was felt by 250 respondents (98%).

Conclusions of the NIK

The findings of the audit show that the provisions of the Programs in many aspects are vague and do not specify in detail the rules of conduct when performing tasks. Implementers, both local governments and NGOs, often determine the rules themselves and decide how to solve problems, while drawing on the experience of other units.

In view of the audit's findings, the Supreme Audit Institution requests:

To the Minister of Family and Social Policy

• Ensure full use of the funds allocated for the implementation of the Program, which will allow - both local governments and non-governmental organizations - to extend personal assistance services to all persons in need of this form of support;
• starting preparations for the next editions of the Program (announcing the submission of applications and bids, evaluating, concluding contracts) at times that allow implementers to start providing services, under both Programs, from the beginning of each year, which will ensure continuity in the implementation of personal assistance services;
• Adaptation of all model documents related to the accession, implementation and settlement of the Program to the terms and conditions contained therein;
• changing the principle of the Program for local governments so that the mayor, mayor, city president, district governor can cover the costs of operating the Program, by making a percentage of these costs dependent on the amount of funds spent on its implementation, rather than transferred for its implementation;
• Take steps to create a database identifying the total number of people with disabilities in the country to help local governments reliably plan and determine the need for such services;
• posting the most frequently recurring questions and answers on problems related to the implementation of the Programs in the appropriate tab on the MRiPS website;
• Increasing supervision of tasks under the Program, carried out by all participants, including carrying out inspections at units providing assistant services to people with disabilities.

De lege ferenda conclusion

Taking steps by the Minister of Family and Social Policy to amend the 2018 Law on the Solidarity Fund to introduce different deadlines for accounting for the Fund's in-kind and financial resources for the various implementers of the Program (provincial governors and municipal and district governments), which will enable them to meet their reporting obligations.

Applications to governors

• Implementation of tasks in accordance with the provisions of agreements concluded with the Minister of Family and Social Policy and the rules arising from program documents;
• Conducting inspections at local governments that provide assistant services for people with disabilities.

Applications to municipalities and counties

• Diagnosing and analyzing the needs of people with disabilities, among others, in order to plan the need to support them with assistance services under the Program, and to widely inform them about the possibility of obtaining assistance in the form of assistance services;
• Implementation of tasks in accordance with the provisions of contracts and the rules arising from the program documents for the implementation of support and the disbursement and accounting for the funds received.

Application to NGOs

Implementation of tasks in accordance with the provisions of the contracts and the rules arising from the program documents, in particular regarding the granting of support to persons who meet the requirements of the Program, making eligible expenditures and timely settlement of funds received.

More: TU

Source: NIK