04/09/2020 - 11:37
Social services. The social emergency fund is aimed at covering emergency and basic needs arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 12,100 families in a vulnerable situation will be receiving aid from the new social emergency fund to cover the emergency and basic needs brought about from the COVID-19 pandemic. Ranging from 1,200 euros to 2,850 euros in total, depending on the income and number of family unit members, the aid will be divided up into instalments and paid as from this month.
The beneficiaries, numbering close to 34,000, will have no formalities to go through: they will receive their Barcelona Solidària cash card at home, after they have been given prior notice, and the amount of money they are entitled to will be paid into that card every month. This is an innovative system that does away with bureaucracy and formalities.
There will be a total of six monthly instalments ranging from 200 euros to 475 euros depending on the income from 2019 and number of family unit members. The first three monthly instalments will be paid together at the end of September.
Individuals registered as Barcelona city residents on 1 January 2020 who have been using the city’s social services since 30 June and have received financial aid in excess of 150 euros will have access to this new financial aid.
Twice the aid of the social services
The social services have been working pro-actively since the start of the pandemic to attend to COVID-19-related emergencies. Eight million euros of aid were granted between 1 March and 30 June, twice the amount granted during the same period last year.
Added to this now is the new fund, with a budget of 18 million euros, which is included under the 35 million-euro social shock plan approved at the Full City Council Meeting of July to take on the health emergency.
In all, the extraordinary budget for dealing with the impact of the crisis is 90 million euros. It includes funding not just for the social emergency but also for the city’s economic reflation, for the adaptation and transformation of public space and mobility and for support for culture.