The Senate Plenary has given the green light this Wednesday to the reform of the Dependency and Disability laws, one of the main social milestones of the legislature, after the absolute majority of the Popular Party has introduced relevant modifications during the processing in the Upper House regarding the text that came out of Congress.
The initiative modifies the General Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Law on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for Persons in a Situation of Dependency. The objective is to expand rights and benefits, reduce incompatibilities, and move towards a model that grants greater decision-making capacity to people who need support.
The text approved by the Senate, however, is not the same as the one received from Congress. The PP majority has allowed changes to be incorporated on issues such as inclusive education, freedom of choice, taxation of disability and dependency, housing adaptation, or system financing. The reform must return to the Lower House, which will have the final word on the modifications introduced by the Popular Group in the Upper House.
More services and the possibility of combining them
The reform introduces relevant changes in the functioning of the dependency system. One of them is the elimination of the incompatibility regime that limited the possibility of simultaneously receiving certain services and benefits.
The text also expands home care and incorporates into the catalog the loan or temporary transfer of support products. The objective is to move towards more personalized care and facilitate that people can remain in their homes and their usual environment when they wish.
The regulation also reinforces the decision-making capacity of users and gives greater weight to universal accessibility. Early attention also becomes configured as a subjective right.
About inclusive education
One of the main points of contention during the passage of the reform through the Senate has been the education of persons with disabilities. The PP has modified the text from Congress to eliminate the prevalence of inclusive education over special education, a change that the Popular Party justifies by the need to guarantee the freedom of choice for families.
"We guarantee the freedom of families to decide what model and what center they want for their children and that until the age of 21 children with disabilities can be educated," defended during the debate this Wednesday the popular senator Cristina Casanueva.
The PSOE has claimed, on the other hand, "the return to the original text." Senator María del Lirio Martín has accused the PP of using its majority in the Senate to modify a reform that had been agreed upon from Congress and has asked for "responsibility" from the popular party.
The criticisms have extended to other groups. Más Madrid considers that the PP's modification "empties inclusive education," while the BNG has announced its abstention considering that the change contradicts the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
More freedom to choose benefits
The ability to choose for dependent persons constitutes another of the main axes of the text after its passage through the Senate. The PP has defended eliminating the priority nature of certain benefits to expand the possibilities of choice among services and economic aids. The popular party argues that people should be able to decide which resource best fits their needs.
The modifications also focus on the rural environment, with the aim of maintaining services and supports that allow people with disabilities or dependence to continue living in their municipalities when they wish to do so.
4% VAT to adapt housing
Among the changes promoted by the PP is also the application of the reduced VAT of 4% to certain rehabilitation and adaptation works of the habitual residence for people with disabilities or dependence.
The measure includes actions on common elements of buildings aimed at eliminating architectural barriers. The popular party has also proposed moving towards a equalization of the economic and tax treatment of dependence and disability, with the aim that people in equivalent situations can access similar benefits.
Another of the changes affects families with children with serious illnesses. The text proposes to maintain the benefit and permission for the care of children with cancer or another serious illness beyond the age of 26 when a situation of great dependence and the need for continuous care persists.
From copayment to retirement of caregivers
The debate in the Upper House has also served to bring to the table proposals from other groups that directly affect dependent people and their families. Junts has demanded that people over 65 years old and those with high dependency maintain the tax consideration of habitual residence when selling their house to enter a residence. The party has also proposed allowing early retirement for those who are primary caregivers of highly dependent individuals.
EH Bildu has defended the complete exemption from copayment, the recognition with retroactive effects of certain economic benefits, and the care for children under five years old with dependency even if their parents do not meet a minimum residency period.
ERC has focused on people affected by polio, while the PNV has defended measures for this group, the victims of asbestos, and primary caregivers. The BNG has demanded "to prioritize personal autonomy and independent living services" and to guarantee funding that is not less than the average cost of a residential place.
Vox, for its part, has defended common criteria for the entire territory and changes that, according to Senator Javier Valentín Alonso, seek "to guarantee equality among Spaniards" and "to defend national priority."
The Congress will have the final word
The reform has reached the Plenary after an intense processing in the Senate. The groups registered 152 amendments and eight particular votes. In committee, the report was approved with 17 votes in favor, all from the PP, and 15 abstentions.
The absolute majority of the Popular Party in the Senate has allowed them to mark a good part of this phase of the processing. But the law is still not definitively approved. Having introduced changes, the Senate will now return the text to Congress. It will be the Lower House that decides which of those modifications to keep and which to reject before the norm is published in the BOE.