1. What needs to be prepared by an EU citizen before they ‘start dealing with authorities’ (tools, documents, documentation, certificates, etc.) and where can they find/obtain this?
2. What should citizens expect?
3. Who should citizens contact when they need assistance or advice?
4. Frequently asked questions
5. Sanctions for non-compliance with obligations

1. What needs to be prepared by an EU citizen before they ‘start dealing with authorities’ (tools, documents, documentation, certificates, etc.) and where can they find/obtain this?

Types of social care facilities for dependent persons:

Day care centre

• provides help in the need of assistance of another person (nursing), meals, social rehabilitation, leisure activities, social counselling during the day;
• the application for assessment and subsequently for the provision of services in a selected facility should be submitted to the municipal/city/local authority based on the permanent or temporary place of residence;
• the condition for admission is dependency degree III.

Nursing facility

• temporary help in the need of assistance of another person (nursing), accommodation during the week or all year round, meals, social rehabilitation, social counselling, health care in the range of nursing care
• the application for assessment and subsequently for the provision of services in a selected facility should be submitted to the municipal/city/local authority based on the permanent or temporary place of residence;
• The condition for admission is dependency degree II.

Home for seniors

• long-term provision of help in the need of assistance of another person (nursing), accommodation during the week or all year round, meals, social rehabilitation, leisure activities, social counselling, health care in the range of nursing care;
• the application for assessment and subsequently for the provision of services in a selected facility should be submitted to the municipal/city/local authority based on the permanent or temporary place of residence;
• The condition for admission is the retirement age and dependency degree IV or another serious reason.

Social services home

• long-term help in the need of assistance of another person (nursing), care during the day or accommodation during the week or all year round, meals, social and work rehabilitation, leisure activities, social counselling, health care in the range of nursing care;
• the application for assessment and subsequently for the provision of services in the selected facility should be submitted to the Regional Authority of the self-governing region based on the permanent or temporary place of residence;
• The condition for admission is age below the retirement age and dependency degree V, or degree III for visually impaired persons.

Specialised facility

• long-term help in the need of assistance of another person (nursing), care during the day or accommodation during the week or all year round, meals, social and work rehabilitation, leisure activities, social counselling, health care in the range of nursing care;
• the application for assessment and subsequently for the provision of services in the selected facility should be submitted to the Regional Authority of the self-governing region based on the permanent or temporary place of residence;
• the condition for admission is dependency degree V and a specific disease in which the facility specialises (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia).

2. What should citizens expect?

What you need to do if you are interested in social service provision in a social care facility for dependent persons.

Application for assessment of dependency on a social service

• The application should include:

-  first name, surname, birth registration number, date of birth, address;
-  marital status and national citizenship;
-  medical certificates and reports on deteriorated health condition (not older than 6 months).

• The application should be submitted to the municipal/city/local authority based on the permanent or temporary place of residence, or to the Regional Authority of the self-governing region, depending on the type of facility.
• The application should be submitted by persons interested in the service. Where the persons’ medical condition, as certified by a physician, does not allow it, other persons should submit the application on their behalf.
• The application form and related counselling are available at the municipal/city/local authority or the Regional Authority of the self-governing region, or on their websites, depending on the type of facility.
• The municipality or the self-governing region will assess the dependency on social service and issue the relevant assessment.
• Based on the assessment, the municipality or the self-governing region will issue a decision on whether the applicant is or is not dependent on the required social service (facility).
• The decision will also include the degree of dependency on assistance of another person, which determines the extent of dependency in hours per day:

Degree I – 0 hours
Degree II – 2-4 hours
Degree III – 4-6 hours
Degree IV – 6-8 hours
Degree V – 8-12 hours
Degree VI – 12 and more hours

• For persons who want to receive a social service without intermediation by the municipality/self-governing region and related co-financing from public sources, the assessment is not required, instead they conclude a contract for the provision of social service directly with the provider and pay the associated costs.

Application for social service provision

• The application should include:

-  first name, surname, date of birth, address;
-  name of the specific selected facility;
-  the expected start date of the social service provision and duration;
-  decision on dependency.

• The application should be submitted to the municipal/city/local authority based on the permanent or temporary place of residence, or to the Regional Authority of the self-governing region, depending on the type of facility.
• The application should be submitted by persons interested in the service. Where the persons’ medical condition, as certified by a physician, does not allow it, other persons should submit the application on their behalf.
• The application form and related counselling are available at the municipal/city/local authority or the Regional Authority of the self-governing region, or on their websites, depending on the type of facility.

Contract for the provision of a social service

• Based on the application, the municipality/self-governing region is obliged to provide the social service depending on its availability, i.e. if there is vacancy in the facility selected by the applicant.
• The contract should include:

-  first name, surname, birth registration number, date of birth, address;
-  indication of a social service;
-  the expected start date of the social service provision and duration;
-  decision on dependency on a social service (unless it is not the case of urgent service provision due to threat to life or health);
-  a statement and documentation regarding income and property.

• The contract should include:

-  name of the client and facility;
-  place and start date of the service provision;
-  time and material scope of the service;
-  number of meals provided;
-  payment for social service.

Payment of the fee for the social service

• The client pays the payment for the provision of a social service, as determined by the facility;

- For a public facility, the amount is determined by a generally binding regulation of the municipality or self-governing region that established the facility.

- Non-public providers may demand payment up to the amount of economically justified costs of the provision of a social service after deduction of revenues from public sources; this is not applies to a for-profit social service provider.

• Clients pay a payment based on their income and property. The law stipulates an amount of income that clients keep to cover other expenses, e.g. medicines (for the year-round residential service it is 25 % of the amount of the minimum subsistence income), this is no applies if the client is a private payer (where the client does not undergo assessment of dependency on a social service or the place in the facility is not co-financed from public sources);
• if the client does not have sufficient income or assets, the unpaid part or the entire payment is obliged to be paid by the client's children or parents, who also have to adhere to the obligation to protect the income balance after payment of this payment in the amount of 1.65 times the subsistence minimum;
• An unpaid payment due to lack of income is a debt owed by the client to the provider.

Funding of social service facilities for dependent clients

Social services are funded from several sources, depending on whether the provider is established by the municipality/self-governing region or a private provider (for profit/non-profit).

• Facilities established by a self-governing region are funded in particular from the region’s budget and client payments.
• Facilities established by a municipality are funded in particular from the municipality’s budget, financial contributions from the budget chapter of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic for facilities providing care to dependent clients, based on the dependency degree, and client payments.
• Non-profit private facilities are funded in particular from their own sources, financial contributions from the budget chapter of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic for facilities providing care to dependent clients, based on the dependency degree, from financial contributions for operating costs provided by the municipality or self-governing region and client payments.
• For-profit private facilities are funded in particular from their own sources and client payments.

3. Who should citizens contact when they need assistance or advice?

If you have any questions regarding social services, contact the municipal/city/local authority or the Office of the self-governing region in the place of your residence.

4. Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions and answers are available at Questions and answers - MPSVR SR (gov.sk) (only in Slovak).

5. Sanctions for non-compliance with obligations

If you do not follow the steps relating to submitting an application for the assessment of dependency on a social service and to the application for the provision of a social service,  there is a risk that the local government will not contribute to the co-financing of this social service.

Explanatory laws:

• Act No 448/2008 on social services and amending Act No 455/1991 on trade licensing (Trading Act), as amended;
• European legislation currently in force: this area is not regulated (except for legislation governing the rules applicable to protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data).