Social justice should be the main priority of state policy, — Ministry of Social Policy
As you know, the humanism of society is manifested in the way the state treats children, the elderly, the disabled, and those who have a particularly difficult time in life. Proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on December 3, 1992, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities is designed to draw the attention of each of us to the problems of people with disabilities. This day reminds us that society is obliged to take care of those who need assistance and support. And there are almost 2.6 million of such people in Ukraine – disabled people in particular.
About how and what the state, which strives to uphold European values, did for them specifically in 2015 – a conversation with the Minister of Social Policy Pavlo Rozenka.
– Pavle Valeriyovych, probably for the Government, and in particular for the Ministry of Social Policy, the celebration of the International Day of the Disabled is primarily an occasion to reflect on what has been done and decide on steps for the near future, so that people with special needs feel equal in society as soon as possible. What real achievements can we talk about now?
– People who need special attention from society and support should be remembered not only on the day outlined in the calendar, but every day. We are guided by this principle in the work of the Ministry of Social Policy, which I represent. Every day, we work to ensure that social justice is not only beautiful words, but the main priority of public policy. In order to improve the level of social security for people with disabilities, the state allocates significant budget funds to increase the amount of pensions and benefits.
Yes, since September 1, 2015, with the increase in the level of social standards, there was a 13 percent increase in minimum pension payments, including for people with disabilities. In particular, the minimum pension increased by 125 hryvnias. And for war disabled persons and combatants, the increase is from UAH 206.25 to UAH 356.25.
The average amount of disability pension as of October 1, 2015 is
UAH 1,497.93 and the average amount of pension for war invalids – UAH 3,653.76.
I would also like to remind you that on November 18, 2015, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine made amendments to its Resolution No. 265 of March 26, 2008, which provided for pension payments to the disabled of the IIIrd group of common diseases and the payment of state social assistance to disabled children and disabled children in the amount of the subsistence minimum for persons who have lost their ability to work.
And even earlier – in June 2015 – the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Law of Ukraine on the establishment (from January 1, 2016) of a monthly supplement to the disabled from childhood of subgroup A and group: the amount of state social assistance to disabled adults will be increased to the amount of assistance with a care allowance paid to disabled children who have the same severe degree of health loss (subgroup A).
– Is the existing legal framework sufficient for effective assistance to the disabled?
We are constantly working on its improvement. For example, since the beginning of 2015, it is legally allowed for one parent who takes care of a disabled person from childhood with a high degree of health loss to take additional social leave. Previously, at the legislative level, mothers or fathers of disabled children had such a right to care for a disabled child with a high degree of health loss until he reaches adulthood.
I would also like to inform you that in 2015, a draft Law of Ukraine «On guardianship and care of adult incapacitated persons and persons whose civil capacity is limited» was developed and submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for consideration. It defines the basic principles of establishing, implementing and terminating the guardianship and care of adults, the activities of state authorities and local self-government bodies in this area and ensuring the property rights of such persons.
In addition, in order to ensure Ukraine’s fulfillment of international obligations, the draft Law provides for a number of innovations, including granting the right to adult incapacitated persons to file complaints against decisions, actions or inactions related to their guardianship, and to apply to the court for restoration of legal capacity and dismissal of the guardian.
In order to comprehensively regulate the issue of employment of people with disabilities, including encouraging employers to employ them, as well as comprehensively regulating problematic issues of a technical nature that occur in the field of employment, and bringing national legislation into compliance with the norms of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, on the initiative of the Ministry of Social Policy, a draft of the Law of Ukraine «On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Employment of Disabled Persons» was developed, which was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (reg. No. 2322a dated 07/09/2015).
– By the way, if you have already mentioned the issue of employment, then allow me to ask: are disabled people provided with employment assistance? After all, for most of them this is a big problem. That is, there is a desire, but there is no opportunity to find a job. Such a situation cannot but cause concern…
– Yes, the problem of providing decent employment for people with disabilities is still far from being fully resolved. It should be recognized that in almost every society such people do not have opportunities for proper employment. However, we work in this direction – through the state employment service.
For ten months of 2015, 39,700 people with disabilities, registered as unemployed, used the services of the state employment service. A total of 10,400 people of the specified category were employed based on referrals from employment centers during January – October 2015. Of these, 648 people started their own business after receiving one-time unemployment benefits. 3,600 people with disabilities were involved in public and other works of a temporary nature.
I note that in order to accelerate employment, 3,800 persons with disabilities underwent vocational training. At the same time, during this period, with the assistance of the state employment service, 38,100 people with disabilities used career guidance services aimed at helping them choose a profession and field of study.
I also want to inform you that on the initiative of the State Employment Service and with the support of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Decade of Employment for persons with disabilities and participants in the anti-terrorist operation will be held from December 1 to 10, 2015. Relevant events will be held in all district and city employment centers (612 of them in total), rehabilitation centers, medical institutions, enterprises and educational institutions.
– And is the issue of granting the status of war disabled, which is extremely urgent, given the continuation of hostilities in the East, settled?
– Yes. In order to increase the level of social and legal guarantees of servicemen called up for military service during mobilization during a special period, including those who were injured, amendments were made to a number of regulatory and legal acts.
The issue of granting the status of war disabled in accordance with part three of Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine «On the status of war veterans, guarantees of their social protection» to persons who received a disability during direct participation in an anti-terrorist operation, is regulated by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 09.08.2015 No. 685 «On approval of the Procedure for granting the status of war disabled to persons who received a disability as a result of injury, contusion or mutilation, received during direct participation in an anti-terrorist operation, ensuring its implementation».
– Are there problems with prosthetics for wounded ATO participants?
– They are solved. Prosthetics of the participants of the anti-terrorist operation are financed from state funds both in Ukraine and abroad.
As of November 20, 2015, 358 ATO participants needed to be provided with technical means of rehabilitation, including prosthetics, of which: 146 soldiers received prosthetics (including 6 soldiers who underwent prosthetics abroad); 117 soldiers need prosthetics (including 4 soldiers who need prosthetics abroad), 48 of them have started prosthetics, and 61 are not ready for prosthetics due to their health status, because they are undergoing treatment; the rest of the fighters – 95 men – need to be provided with other means of rehabilitation.
By the way, this year, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine «On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2015», expenditures in the amount of 906.1 million hryvnias have been approved, which is 332.8 million hryvnias more than last year.
I also want to note that for the first time budget funds (almost UAH 64 million) have been allocated to provide affordable housing for persons who lost limbs during the anti-terrorist operation or have musculoskeletal disorders. As of November 17, 2015, 17 contracts for the purchase and sale of housing were concluded for persons of the specified category in the amount of UAH 8,217,721,000. Regarding 33 people, organizational measures are being carried out, in particular, the selection of housing and preparation for concluding contracts for its purchase.
In addition, more than UAH 50 million is provided for social and professional adaptation and sanatorium-resort treatment of the injured participants of the anti-terrorist operation.
According to the results of competitive bidding, 16 winners (sanatorium-resort treatment facilities) were determined, with whom contracts were concluded for the purchase of 4,902 vouchers for the amount of 22.45 million hryvnias.
According to operational data (as of 03.11.2015), 1,896 injured participants of the anti-terrorist operation (including disabled participants from the anti-terrorist operation) were provided with sanatorium treatment.
Since March 2015, persons discharged from military service who became disabled as a result of participation in anti-terrorist operation have the right to receive a one-time voucher for learning a new profession. During January-October 2015, 15 people with disabilities received vouchers for retraining, specialization, and professional development.
Providing social guarantees to the participants of ATO and their families is among the priority areas of our Ministry’s activities.
– The state is currently in an extremely difficult political and economic situation. In this regard, did the Government reduce the funding of social budget programs for the disabled?
No. In 2015, the State Budget allocated 57,205.5 thousand hryvnias for providing financial support to public organizations of the disabled, which have the status of All-Ukrainian. The specified financial support was provided to 23 all-Ukrainian public organizations. Social guarantees to enterprises of public organizations of the disabled in the form of tax benefits (enterprise income tax, value added tax, land tax) in 2015 were also preserved.
Also extended until January 1, 2020 is the norm for enterprises of public organizations of the disabled regarding the zero rate of tax on the added value of the supply of goods and services. Previously, this benefit expired on January 1, 2015.
Thanks to this, only in the first half of the current year, 295 enterprises received assistance in the form of tax benefits in the amount of 72.3 million hryvnias.
– The Ministry of Social Policy often talks about reforming the system of social services. How will this apply to people with disabilities?
In fulfillment of the Agreement with the EU, the Ministry developed a new version of the Law of Ukraine «On Social Services». It has already been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (reg. No. 3143 dated September 18, 2015). I would like to emphasize that the adoption of the Law will ensure unified approaches in organizing the work of the social services system; availability of services and transparency of the process of their provision, protection of the rights of recipients, etc.
Today, the process of reforming the system of providing social services continues. Its purpose is to improve the quality and efficiency of the provision of social services, in particular, in relation to the disabled. Work continues on the introduction of standardization of social services, in particular, 11 state standards of social services have already been approved by orders of the Ministry of Social Policy, including 4 in 2015 (supported living, social adaptation, counseling, preventive social services). 7 state standards of social services are developed by the central bodies of executive power and structural subdivisions on issues of social protection of the population.
During 2014-2015, the procedure for receiving compensation by individuals for social services rendered was simplified, in particular, electronic exchange of information between the Ministry of Social Policy and the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine on individual tax payers was introduced, which reduced the list of documents for assigning compensation.
In Ukraine, a whole network of institutions and institutions provides social and rehabilitation services to persons who are in difficult life circumstances and need external assistance, in particular to the disabled and disabled children. These are 656 territorial centers of social service (provision of social services), where more than 1.5 million people are served; 289 boarding houses for the elderly and disabled (more than 45,800 people live in them); 151 rehabilitation institutions for the disabled and disabled children (as of October 1, 2015, more than 12,000 people with disabilities, including 10,400 disabled children, received rehabilitation services in these rehabilitation institutions).
– And in conclusion, please, a few words about the rehabilitation of people with disabilities, which is, of course, very important for them.
To support the health of disabled people and war veterans, 4 sanatoriums operate in the sphere of administration of the Ministry of Social Policy, namely: «Peremoga» (Kyiv), «Batkivshchyna» (Truskavets), «Slava» (Myrhorod), «Salyut» (Odesa), in which almost 15 thousand people undergo sanatorium-resort treatment every year.
As part of the reform of the system of local self-government and decentralization of state power, the Ministry of Social Policy transferred from the central level to the regional level the purchase of tickets to health resorts for citizens affected by the Chernobyl disaster, including disabled children. This allowed the regions, where the amount of funds provided for the purchase of vouchers was less than UAH 100,000, to conclude contracts for sanatorium-resort treatment with institutions without applying the procurement procedure. As a result, it was possible to provide treatment to almost 100 percent of people who applied with a corresponding application.
On the eve of the International Day of the Disabled, I would like to emphasize the following. There are about 2.6 million people in Ukraine who want to live a full life, to be useful for the state and their family. Society should understand their urgent needs, desires and aspirations, and the state should take care of their realization. Therefore, I appeal to the representatives of central and local authorities, institutions and institutions that take care of the problems of the disabled: not with words, but with constructive actions to show them special attention and sensitivity.
Lidia Kachan led the conversation
