Court scraps social services fees

government's requirement for users of social services to pay part of the cost has been annulled by the regional supreme court (TSJCV).

The judgment said it is 'coercive' and deemed that it affects 'basic and vital care services' aimed at people ' who do not seem to be especially privileged groups'.

This ruling was in response to an appeal brought by the regional committee of disabled people's representatives (CERMI-CV) against the decree.

CERMI claims the sentence opens the door to other rulings for people who the regional gov- ernment continues to charge.

It ruled that it is not down to the regional government administration but the regional parliament to 'create and regulate the essential elements of a fee to charge for social services'.

Socialist (PSOE) provincial secretary for social mobilisation, Mirian Beltrá said: "Justice has been done, with the right of dependent people to receive dignified care regardless of their bank balance confirmed."

She said the ruling backs what associations for the disabled and dependants have been saying since the decree was signed in August last year.

"It clearly says the services dependants need are a basic necessity for their personal development and wellbeing and not just a voluntary whim to be regulated by a fee," she said.

"The Valencian Partido Popular should hang their heads in shame for signing this decree and not withdrawing it when they saw how the sector rejected it."

The PSOE called for regional social welfare councillor Asunción Sánchez Zaplana to resign.

The CC OO union said the ruling vindicates their demands and shows 'the fight has not been in vain'.

They accused the regional government of 'making the most vulnerable pay off the debt it has run up by wasting public money and dreadful management'.

The union called for negotiations with the sector to address all the legislation affecting this collective.

The regional government insisted the judgment does not say whether users of services should pay towards the cost or not, 'only about the legal formula required to regulate these contributions'.

A social welfare department statement said the court ruling states that the regulation has to be implemented as a law instead of a decree.