SOCIAL SERVICES IN GENERAL

Public authorities are in charge of a number of services which influence a large number of aspects of the everyday lives of citizens: from transport to energy, water and gas supply, from childcare to food security control. In this brief report, I will discuss social services, more specifically services provided directly to persons. In the Italian legal system, social services are defined according to a teleological approach: they aim at removing and overcoming needs and difficulties that each person is faced with in the course of life (see Article 128 Act 112/1998 on the transfer of administrative functions and duties from the State to the regions and local authorities).

It is a broad sector, including at least four subsectors. For my reflections here I will take some examples from “services to persons”: homecare and residential care services. “These services complement and support the role of families in caring for the youngest and oldest members of society in particular”, and “persons with long-term health or disability problems”.

Note that the research unit I coordinate focuses on the quality of employment of workers in this sector and not the quality of services offered (even if, of course, the quality of the former influences the quality of the latter).

In Italy, the organization of services – in particular social services – can be either public or private.

The competence to regulate social services is divided between the State, the regions and local authorities. Aft er Constitutional Act No 3 of 18 October 2001, the Constitution – see Article 117(m) – declares that “the determination of the basic level of benefits relating to civil and social entitlements has to be guaranteed throughout the national territory”. This means that the State has the exclusive competence to guarantee a basic level of benefits in all its territory. The regions have the exclusive competence to organize assistance and social services (ex Article 117.4). At the same time, all public authorities – the State, the regions, metropolitan cities, provinces and municipalities – shall promote the autonomous initiatives of citizens, both as individuals and as members of associations, relating to activities of general interest, based on the principle of subsidiarity (Article 118.4 Const.).