The Catalan government is set to approve a decree law on Tuesday to address the backlog of 128,000 people awaiting dependency aid in Catalonia. President Salvador Illa announced the "Cura Plan" during an executive retreat in Bages, stating it will streamline processes and reduce bureaucracy for applicants.
The initiative follows a successful pilot programme launched in Vic in late 2025 and involves close collaboration between the Health and Social Rights departments. While the state-mandated procedure for aid will remain, the new plan aims to change the internal processes, eliminating manual steps and increasing technical and technological resources.
Changes will not be immediate, but improvements are expected to start soon. The Cura Plan, an acronym for 'compensate, unify, reinforce, and speed up', includes short-term measures for 2026 and medium to long-term goals extending into 2027 and 2028. This decree represents the most ambitious reform of the dependency system since the law came into effect in 2007.
Funding and Staffing Boost
The decree will receive €25 million in funding, secured through a credit supplement agreement, independent of broader budget negotiations between ERC and PSC. The current system faces significant challenges, with an average waiting time of 397 days, over a year, between application and resolution of the Individual Care Programme (PIA).
This delay has led to tragic cases, such as Justina, who died the day after her aid was approved following a sixteen-month wait, as reported by ElNacional.cat. Currently, 252,000 active cases receive 313,000 benefits and services, as individuals can receive more than one type of aid.
To speed up processing, the plan includes hiring up to 200 new professionals. A digital 'single window' system, vSocial, will be introduced to track the entire process and use artificial intelligence for database management. This will end the use of paper forms.
Streamlining Assessments and Interim Support
One significant change involves speeding up dependency assessments based on clinical reports from healthcare professionals. Dependency is categorised into four grades: moderate (Grade I), severe (Grade II), high (Grade III), and extreme (Grade III+ for conditions like ALS). Over 18,000 potential Grade III dependency cases have been identified in the waiting lists.
While these cases are being confirmed, the government will provide a minimum substitute benefit of €200 per month. This payment will continue until individuals receive their full, appropriate benefits. Assessments will also be semi-automated, with phone or video calls sufficient for applying the scoring system.
Integrated Home Visits and Primary Care Access
The decree law also allows for the assessment of each case and the determination of the Individual Care Programme (PIA) to be completed in a single home visit. Officials estimate this combined approach could benefit around 65,000 people annually, more than half of all cases. Previously, the dependency grade assessment and PIA development were separate processes, each handled by a different department, leading to long waiting times.
Beyond short-term changes, the government's plan aims to allow citizens to start the dependency recognition process directly from primary care centres, building on the Vic pilot. Most dependency aid applicants are already known to their local health centres. The plan also seeks to assign a dedicated contact person to guide applicants through the process, ensuring a smooth experience from the initial detection of need.
This territorial deployment is key. The system will expand from 25 Dependency Care Services to 375 primary care teams and 107 basic social services centres. The Vic pilot, launched in September, has already shown significant reductions in waiting times. By March of next year, the integrated care process is expected to cover one million inhabitants across different regions, with full generalisation across all health regions planned for 2027.
Social Rights Minister Mònica Martínez Bravo described the single window as a "paradigm shift," explaining that it "places the person at the centre and supports them in decision-making, considering their situation, needs, preferences, resources, and available services." The ultimate goal is to reduce the waiting time for processing applications and receiving benefits to just 60 days.
