A battle that has lasted for six months and which seems (at least partially) to have brought home an initial result. The families of people with disabilities in Lombardy since the beginning of the year I have been on a war footing against the remodulation of resources for family caregivers contained in two resolutions of Attilio Fontana’s council. On May 29, however, the executive backtracked, a few days after the announcement of the appeal to the TAR by 27 associations. But let’s go in order.
The change of direction
It all started on 28 December 2023, when Palazzo Lombardia approved the legislative decree 1669, which implemented some indications of the National Fund for the non-self-sufficient (Pnna), cutting the monthly allowance that families receive for the assistance of disabled people in the face – they explained from the Region – of greater services provided in the area. After the first heated protests from the associations, the Lombardy executive had already partially retraced its steps, envisaging minor economic cuts, which ultimately translated into 150 euros less per month for the contribution to the caregiver provided for by the so-called measure B1 (that which concerns people with a very serious disability).
Part of the 150 euros less would have had to be returned to the families thanks to the use of services provided by local authorities, to which could be added the presentation of a document certifying the actual expenditure for assistance (85 euros per month). The cuts for measure B2 (which concerns the severely disabled) remained unchanged in the second resolution: from a maximum contribution of 400 euros per month it went to 100. The very severely disabled with complex needs, who receive contributions from 900 to 1,300 euros, did not have suffered reductions. The position supported in all these months by the Region was therefore summarized as follows: fewer economic contributions to families in exchange for more direct services.
But here lay the crux for which the families did not want to back down, so much so that in a press conference on May 27th they presented the appeal to the TAR filed a few days earlier: “Already today we are faced with a total lack of services in the Lombardy region – explains Morena Manfredapresident of Abilità Diverse Aps, one of the ten associations promoting the appeal –. For example, vouchers for autism and social health are unavailable or impossible to activate because the providers do not have educators and assistance staff. We have not yet understood which services we are talking about“. In recent months the family committees have fought tirelessly: they have called two demonstrations, participated in hearings in the council commissions of the regional council and in as many meetings, reiterating that no Italian region to date, other than Lombardy, had “interpreted” the dictates of the Pnna in “in such a way that is penalizing for cohabiting family caregivers. The indirect economic contribution is not and will never be an alternative to services provided directly”. Another aspect to which the associations opposed concerned the creation, as formulated by the resolution, of a waiting list for new applications for access to contributions.
The Region’s announcement and the families’ reactions
On May 29, in a note, the Lombardy Region changes the cards on the table and announces an allocation “more in the next few days 2 million euros” in addition to “extension to August 1, 2024 of the start of the remodulation of the monthly voucher recognized for people with very serious disabilities and non-self-sufficient elderly people with high care needs assisted by a family caregiver alone (Measure B1)”. Furthermore, with the budget adjustment in July promises to allocate “another 8.5 million euros so as to avoid waiting lists and guarantee, at the same time, the care of citizens with very serious disabilities, balancing the person’s freedom of choice with the provisions of national legislation regarding the implementation of services”. Some of the requests proposed in recent months by the associations and oppositions in the regional council therefore seem to have been partially accepted, but they underline some aspects.
