Social work in the welfare system in Spain

Ever since the current Constitution was passed by parliament in 1978, Spain has been organised territorially in municipalities, provinces and autonomous communities (regional level). All these bodies enjoy self-government in the management of their respective interests (Constitution, section 137). Within this decentralised structure, each level of the administration has its own responsibilities, but the central administration retains some basic control in order to guarantee equality within all territories. Each of the autonomous communities has its own government and adopts its own policies while following national policy guidelines. In addition, local authorities enjoy a degree of autonomy in their respective territories. In Spain there are different forms of social protection which are provided by the central government, the autonomous communities’ governments and by local government.

Central government is responsible for the social security system, which is universal across territories. It comprises a contributory system based on social contributions made by workers and employers; a non-contributory pension system; social assistance benefits for the unemployed that are linked to annual income; and an economic benefit bonus, introduced in 2009 as a new temporary social security economic benefit in response to the economic crisis.

The central government promotes other basic policy guidelines at the national level, although the application of these guidelines is devolved to the local and autonomous administrations. There are general Acts concerning education, health, employment, children, equal opportunities, gender violence protection and dependence. In other areas, there is no national legislation but rather national plans agreed between the central and autonomous administrations, such as housing policy or programmes for the Roma population. Social assistance is also the responsibility of the autonomous communities and, since 1988, a programme funded jointly by all three levels of government (Plan Concertado de Prestaciones Básicas de Servicios Sociales en las Corporaciones Locales) has existed (Ministerio de Sanidad, Política Social e Igualdad, 2011).

The autonomous communities implement national policies and have the capacity to establish their own policies. Each of these regional governments can also introduce specific policies on the basis of their own social services Act. As a result there are 17 social services Acts, one for each of the regions. These Acts differ in terms of social rights, social services and social expenditure. All of them offer some common basic benefits and discretional minimum income services.