Background country information: Right to independent living of persons with disabilities
Mapping Paper
Summary overview of types and characteristics of institutions and community-based services for persons with disabilities available across the EU
Country: Slovenia
2014 and 2015
FRANET contractor:Peace Institute, Institute for Contemporary
Social and Political Studies and Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law Ljubljana
DISCLAIMER: This document was commissioned under contract as background material for a comparative analysis by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) for the project ‘The right to independent living of persons with disabilities’. The information and views contained in the document do not necessarily reflect the views or the official position of the FRA. The document is made publicly available for transparency and information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or legal opinion.FRA asked its research network FRANET to collect information on types of institutional and community based services for persons with disabilities available in each EU Member State. The data collection focused on the main features of the service types (the type of the structure, the provider and funder of support) and the population provided for (age group, type of impairment, level of support provided). In addition, the data collection on institutional services included information on typical size, length of admissions, and length of time that institutions/services of that type have been operating. The data collection on community-based services included information on availability of the type of CBS in the country, eligibility and user control over the support provided).
More information is available in FRA’s Summary overview of types and characteristics of institutional and community-based services for persons with disabilities available across the EU.
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Background country information: Right to independent living of persons with disabilities
Overview of institutional services for persons with disabilities (2014)
Table 1: Typology of institutions
TYPE OF SERVICE / SIZE / AGE GROUP / TYPE OF IMPAIRMENT / LEVEL OF SUPPORT PROVIDED / TYPICAL PROVIDER / TYPICAL FUNDER / LENGTH OF ADMISSION / AGE OF INSTITUTION/ SERVICECentres for training, work and care (centri za usposabljanje, delo in varstvo)[1] residential and non-residential service / Over 100 places (there are 5 centres in Slovenia, each has over 100 places, 30-100 residential for children, 11-30 non-residential for children, 30-100 residential for adults and 30-100 non-residential for adults) / Children and
Adult / Mixed (Intellectual disability, physical disability) / Variable support provided (24-hour support provided and
daytime support provided) / National / Mixed government and private (National government and
All private/insurance; although it is the same type of service the typical funder for the two age groups is different, in the case of children and young adults the typical funder is the national government and in the case of adults over the age of 26 the users pay for the services themselves; if the adult user over the age of 26 cannot afford to pay for the service, upon his/her request the competent social work centre (center za socialno delo) may issue a decision on total or partial exemption from payment of the service – in such case the service is funded by the national authority)[2] / Mixed lengths of admission (length of admission is not limited, depends on individual’s needs)[3] / Over 50 years
Occupational activity centres (varstveno delovni centri),[4] residential and non-residential service / Over 100 places
(There are 29 occupational activity centres) / Adult / Mixed
(Mental health problem, intellectual disability, physical disability, sensory disability) / Variable support provided (24-hour support provided and
daytime support provided) / Mixed (national and private sector) / All private/insurance
(if the user cannot afford to pay for the service, upon his/her request the competent social work centre (center za socialno delo) may issue a decision on total or partial exemption from payment of the service – in such case the service is funded by the national authority)[5] / Mixed lengths of admission (length of admission is not limited, depends on individual’s needs)[6] / 10-50 years
Care homes for the elderly (domovi za starejše),[7] residential service / Over 100 places
11-30 places for people with dementia (in Slovenia there are 54 care homes for the elderly, typical care home has over 100 places) / Older people and Adult / Older people (each institution has a section for persons with dementia, 10 care homes for the elderly have sections for persons with physical disability and sensory disability) / Variable support provided (24-hour support provided and
daytime support provided) / Mixed (national and private sector) / Mixed (Private, Social security, local authority; the services in the care homes consist of social and medical care; social care is funded by the useror his/her family members or the local authorities if the user cannot afford to pay for the care; the medical care is covered by the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (Zavod za zdravstveno zavarovanje Slovenije), which operates the national compulsory health insurance scheme)[8] / Mixed lengths of admission (length of admission is not limited, depends on individual’s needs)[9] / Over 50 years
Special social welfare institutions for adults (posebni socialno varstveni zavodi za odrasle),[10] residential service / Over 100 places
(in Slovenia there are 5 special social welfare institutions for adults, typical service has over 100 places) / Adult / Mixed / 24-hour support provided / National / All private/insurance (if the user cannot afford to pay for the service, upon his/her request the competent social work centre (center za socialno delo) may issue a decision on total or partial exemption from payment of the service – in such case the service is funded by the local authority)[11] / Mixed lengths of admission / Over 50 years
Homes for children with intellectual disability (domovi za otroke z motnjami v duševnem razvoju)[12], residential service / 30-100 places (in Slovenia there are 6 such institutions, typical service has 30-100 places) / Children / Intellectual disability / 24-hour support provided / Local authority / Mixed (national government and local authority) / Over 2 years (9 years during primary education with the possibility of extension for additional 3 years, for children with severe intellectual disabilities the care can be extended until 26 years of age) / 10-50 years
Institutions for children with emotional and behavioural disorders (zavodi za otroke s čustvenimi in vedenjskimi motnjami),[13] residential service / 30 –100 places (in Slovenia there are 10 such institutions, typical service has 30-100 places / Children / Mental health problem / 24-hour support provided / National / National government / Over 2 years (depending on the type and duration of education programme - these institutions provide services for children included in primary and secondary education programmes) / 10-50 years
Institution for the blind and partially sighted youth (zavod za slepo in slabovidno mladino),[14] residential service / 11-30 places (in Slovenia there is 1 such institution) / Children / Sensory disability / 24-hour support provided / National / National government / Over 2 years (depending on the type and duration of education programme - these institutions provide services for children included in primary and secondary education programmes) / Over 50 years
Institutions for the deaf and hard of hearing (zavodi za gluhe in naglušne),[15] residential service / 30-100 places (in Slovenia there are 3 such institutions, typical service has 30-100 places) / Children / Sensory disability / 24-hour support provided / National / National government / Over 2 years
(depending on the type and duration of education programme - these institutions provide services for children included in primary and secondary education programmes) / Over 50 years
Institutions for children with physical disabilities (zavodi za gibalno ovirane otroke),[16]residential and non-residetnial service / 30-100 places (in Slovenia there are 2 such institutions, typical service has 30-100 places) / Children / Physical disability / Variable support provided (24-hour support provided and
daytime support provided) / National / National government / Over 2 years
(depending on the type and duration of education programme - these institutions provide services for children included in primary and secondary education programmes) / 10- 50 years
Psychiatric hospitals (psihiatrične bolnišnice)[17] / Over 100 places (there are 5 psychiatric hospitals in Slovenia) / Adults
Children / Mixed
(Mental health problem, intellectual disability) / 24-hour support provided / National / Benefits/social security / Mixed lengths of admission (length of admission is not limited, depends on individual’s needs) / Over 50 years
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Background country information: Right to independent living of persons with disabilities
Table 2: data sources
TITLE/ REFERENCE / ORGANISATION COLLECTING DATA / YEAR OF DATA COLLECTION / PERIOD COVERED BY THE DATA / METHODOLODY FOR DATA COLLECTION / GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE OF DATA COLLECTION / SERVICE SCOPE OF DATA COLLECTIONPlease include: title of the survey, data set, study, report, administrative document etc, including full reference with URL if available / Name of organisation/ institution that collected the data.
Type of organisation e.g. government ministry, local authority, national statistical office academia, NGO / Year when data was collected / Time period covered by the data/ report / Desk research, questionnaire, visits to institutions, design, sampling, administrative data / Local authority area, region, federal state, national / Services for people with mental health problems, services for people with intellectual disabilities, services for older people, services for children, large residential homes etc
Information provided upon request. / Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities (Ministrstvo za delo, družino, socialne zadeve in enake možnosti)
Government ministry / 29 July 2014, Data submitted via e-mail (data concerning Centres for training, work and care : 2014; data concerning occupational activity centres: 2014; data concerning care homes for the elderly: 2013 / Data concerning Centres for training, work and care : 1 January 2013 – 31 December 2013; concerning occupational activity centres: as of 29 July 2014; data concerning care homes for the elderly: as of 1 January 2013 / Administrative data / National / Services for children, older people, adults with mental health problems, intellectual disability, physical disability sensory disability.
Information provided upon request. / Ministry of Education, Science and Sport (Ministrstvo za izobraževanje, znanost in šport)
Government ministry / 30 July 2014, Data submitted via e-mail; data collected in 2014 / Data for the school year 2013/14 / Administrative data / National / Services for children.
Information provided upon request. / Psychiatric Hospital Vojnik (Psihiatrična bolnišnica Vojnik)
Psychiatric hospital / 7 August 2014, Data submitted via e-mail / Data as of 7 August 2014 / Administrative data / National / Services for persons with mental health problems.
List of institutions (Seznam domov članov s povezavami), available at: / Association of Social institutions of Slovenia (Skupnost socialnih zavodov Slovenije) / Website accessed on 1 August 2014 / /
(information on the period/ last update not available on the website) / Administrative data / National / Services for children, older people, adults with mental health problems, intellectual disability, physical disability sensory disability.
Mental Health Atlas, available at: / World Health Organization / 2011 / 2011 / Administrative data / National / Services for persons with mental health problems.
The Decree on criteria for determining exemption from the payment of social services (Uredba o merilih za določanje oprostitev pri plačilih socialno varstvenih storitev), 30 September 2004 and subsequent modifications, available at: / Slovenia (legislation) / / / / / Legislation / National / /
The Social security act (Zakon o socialnem varstvu), 4 November 1992, and subsequent modifications, available at: (unofficial consolidated text). / Slovenia (legislation) / / / / / Legislation / National / /
Overview of community-based services for persons with disabilities (2015)
Table 3: community-based services for persons with disabilities
Type of community-based servicePlease provide the name of the type of service in the national language and a translation into English
Please indicate if the types of services presented below are given a different name in your country / Yes/ No
Please indicate if this type of service is available in your country / Profile of the users
age (children, adults or older persons)
type of disability (physical disability, intellectual disability, psycho-social disability, deaf or hard of hearing, blind) / Explanatory information
For each type of service, please provide a short description of:
the type and level (i.e. 24 hour, daytime, weekends, etc.) of support the service provides;
location of the service (i.e. city, town, rural areas);
who is eligible for the service
who is typically the provider and funder of services (i.e. national government, local government, municipality, NGO, private company, etc.)? / Extent to which support is self-directed
For each type of service, please provide information about the extent to which users control the support provided. Can individuals using the service:
recruit and manage staff providing support;
determine the activities for which support is needed;
determine how the budget for services and supports is used;
choose types of equipment and adaptations to meet their needs? / If data are available, please specify number of services operating in the country and the number of users
Please provide a full reference for this data, including information about the period covered by the data.
Please indicate, if data is available, if there has been decrease / increase in the last five years
Personal budgets / No.
Socialni prejemki in transferji (Social payments and transfers) are provided as various types of direct payments (elaborated in Attachment 2). / Yes. / For all types of users: adults, older persons, parents of children with disabilities or parents of grown children who are still dependent.
For all types of disabilities – type and amount depends on degree of disability, and when it occurred (e.g. was the person insured, for how long employed before the disability occurred). / Eligibility determined by the centre for social work.
Osebna asistenca
(Personal assistance) / Yes, although not in an adequate extent due to inadequate funding and the lack of a legal basis. / Adults, also older persons, also students (18-26 years), physically disabled [18] / Does not have a legal basis, is to be comprehensively regulated by a Personal Assistance Act.
Available nationwide (in all 12 regions), as a service provided within social welfare programmes, provided on a project basis by DPOs. Funded within the framework of the Employment Service of Slovenia (ESS) (Zavod Republike Slovenije za zaposlovanje, ZRSZ), by profits from the lottery allocated by the ‘Foundation for funding disabled persons and humanitarian organisations in the Republic of Slovenia’ (Fundacija za financiranje invalidskih in humanitarnih organizacij v Republiki Sloveniji, FIHO), and by the MDDSZ and municipalities.[19]
Eligibility (extent of support) is determined by DPOs (the providers), depending on an assessment of necessity of the needs of their members (potential users). As there is not enough funding available to provide for a number of personal assistants that would fully cover their needs, DPOs assess who needs the service more, most users share assistants.[20] / 2013: 5 providers (all DPOs), 663 users.
2015-2018: 31 providers, 318 personal assistants, no data on number of users.[21]
socialna oskrba na domu(domestic social care))[22] - also simply called home help (pomoč na domu) / Yes. / Possible for all categories users, in practice 87.2 % are elderly persons, with age related decline. / Daytime, also weekends, max. 20 hours per week.
Available nationwide, except one municipality.
Eligibility determined by the centre for social work: intended for persons whose remaining physical and mental abilities enable them to maintain an adequate mental and physical state and who can function in a familiar living environment if organized temporary assistance is provided to them.
Co-funded by the municipality, users pay in average €5.12 per hour. / Provider is chosen by the municipality. Users apply for the service, and under supervision of the centre for social work, signs an agreement with the provider determining the extent and type of support (housework assistance or/and assistance in personal hygiene or/and assistance in maintaining social contacts).[23] / At the end of 2013 this service had 6,540 users nationwide.[24]
Socialna oskrba na domu izven javne mreže (domestic social care provided as a private service) / Yes. / All categories of users. / No limit on the extent (hours). Without commission from the municipality, but on the basis of a work permit obtained from the MDDSZ and entry into the register.[25]
Could be available all around Slovenia, but only three providers had any users at the end of 2012, most in Ljubljana (latest available data).[26]
The price for user ranged from €10,0 to €16,71 per hour, the average amounted to €14,3 per hour in 2012.[27] / Users may choose the activities for which support it is needed and extent of services provided (housework assistance or/and assistance in personal hygiene or/and assistance in maintaining social contacts).
No data on other aspects available. / 34 users at the end of 2012 (latest available data).[28]
Socialni servis (Social service, also a type of home help service as described above, with the following additional activities:pedicure, hairdressing and other similar services; assistance in carrying out bank transactions, paying bills, acceptance and dispatch of mail; protecting and monitoring the status of the user through the night; all-day connection via a personal telephone alarm.)[29] / Yes. / All profiles. / Available to all persons who are capable of paying for it. There is also no limit on the extent (hours) of support provided.[30] / Users may choose the activities for which support it is needed and extent of services provided.
No data on other aspects available. / Due to high costs this service had only 209 users at the end of 2012 (150 of which used only the all-day connection via a personal telephone alarm – long distance protection in case of medical emergency).[31]
Družinski pomočnik (family attendant, also called a home care assistant)[32] / Yes. / For seriously intellectually or physically disabled adults, who require assistance to perform all their basic vital functions and would otherwise be eligible for institutional care. / The attendant must be a person who lives at the same permanent residence as the disabled person or one of his family members, and may not be employed full-time at another job.
Although being a family attendant is not a form of employment, the attendant receives €734.15 gross as an allowance for loss of employment and is fully insured (medical, pension and disability insurance).[33] / The attendant must report to the centre for social work annually, which in turn annually produces a report that also notes the opinion of the disabled person receiving this service. / On 24 August 2011: 760;[34]
at the end of 2011: 799 disabled persons had a family attendant. The goal is 1500 family attendants by 2020.[35]
Vodenje, zaposlitev in varstvo pod posebnimi pogoji (Guidance, employment and protection under special conditions):is a social security service provided by centres for protection and training (varstveno delovni centri, VDC) that perform tasks of guidance and protection and organize employment subject to special conditions, are thus a type of day care centre. / Yes. / Intellectually and physically disabled adults.[36] / Provided free of charge.[37] Available at least five times a week for eight hours per day, starting in the morning. Basic care consists of accommodation, meals, technical supplies and transportation from home to the centre. Aimed at implementing the basic human rights of adult persons with disabilities and enabling them to actively participate in a working environment in accordance with their abilities, to obtain new and maintain already acquired knowledge and skills, new social and working habits, exercise their own ideas and creativity, acquire a sense of usefulness and self-affirmation, develop greater autonomy etc.[38] / The scope of services is determined upon agreement of the centre (provider) with the user or his legal guardian.[39] / In 2013: 3,200 users.[40]
Programi socialne vključenosti (Programmes for social inclusion): are designed to support and maintain the working abilities of persons with disabilities (work content),[41] as well as the promotion of social inclusion (social content).[42] / Yes. / Adults with physical or intellectual disability. / As stipulated in Article 35 of ZZRZI[43] people eligible are persons:
1) found by the ESS to be non-employable due to their disability;[44]
2) with a disability of thefirst (highest) category, without the right to a disability pension;[45]
3) with intellectual or physical disabilities who do not have access to adequate social services.
Providers of programmes are funded from the national budget and chosen on the basis of a public tender by the MDDSZ, that establishes the conditions for their implementation,[46] every few years (first beginning in the period 2006-2010, then 2011-2014, now 2015-2019).[47] Currently 21 providers (of different types: NGOs, private companies, private or public institutes, etc.), which are located in most larger cities.[48] The programmes are provided from Monday to Friday, 8 hours per day, each user must be involved at least 6 hours per day.[49] / Currently 21 service providers.[50] At the end of 2013 (latest available data): total 477 users, with 16 providers providing the service in 36 different locations around Slovenia.[51]
Koordinatorji obravnave v skupnosti za osebe s težavami v duševnem zdravju(community-based mental health treatment coordinators).[52] / Yes. / Persons with mental health problems. / Recruited by and employed at centres for social work since the end of 2010.[53] Coordinators are qualified professionals whose task is to provide assistance to persons who are no longer in need of treatment in a psychiatric hospital or supervised treatment, but need support in psychosocial rehabilitation, daily activities, arranging living conditions and inclusion in daily life based on a plan of treatment. All tasks are focused on finding appropriate solutions with a view of ensuring the earliest possible return to a home environment,[54] as well as stay in a home environment.[55] / 25 coordinators are currently employed.[56]
Pravica do tolmača za slovenski znakovni jezik
(The right to use a sign language interpreter) / Yes. / All deaf persons in procedures before public authorities, as well as in any other life situation where deafness would pose an obstacle to fulfilling their needs. / Funded by the ministry responsible for the protection of persons with disabilities (MDDSZ).[57] The beneficiary shall pay the sign language interpreter for the services rendered with a voucher issued by a centre for social work.[58] / A deaf person may exercise the right at his own discretion up to a maximum of 30 hours per year, while a deaf person with student status may, for reasons of additional needs due to education, exercise the right to a sign language interpreter for more than 30 hours, but not exceeding 100 hours, per year.[59]
Attachment 1: Number of adapted or suitable non-profit rental units