Social Services Portfolios and Catalogues as Rights-Guaranteeing Instruments: A Comparative Analysis of Spanish Autonomous Communities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_ais/ais.20264812506Keywords:
Social welfare; Social and economic rights; Basic needs; Social policy; Social servicesAbstract
The Spanish Public System of Social Services (SPSS) has been characterised by heterogeneous trajectories among the Autonomous Communities (CCAA). There are different paths in the approval of regulations, resources, and the guarantee of rights. Social services portfolios are one of the pillars of the SPSS, covering the range of benefits, their access requirements, and enforceability; however, the implementation of the portfolios across the autonomous regions has been uneven.
The main aim of this research is to analyse the elements of convergence and divergence among the autonomous social services portfolios. In the first phase, a descriptive study was carried out to identify the regulatory frameworks in force across all the CCAA. In the second phase, a comparative analysis of the content of the portfolios was carried out, based on three categories: regulatory framework, conceptualisation, and internal structure.
A chronological mapping of the current regulations on social services laws, portfolios, and catalogues at the regional level is presented, which highlights the unequal inter-territorial progress, the conceptual disparities, as well as the heterogeneity in the internal structures and contents included in the portfolios.
Despite the undoubtedly positive aspects derived from the decentralisation of competences in the field of social services, the lack of uniformity and of shared minimum requirements for all the CCAA generates a worrying lack of definition in the safeguarding of citizens’ subjective rights related to social services.
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The materials used for this research will be available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.
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