Argentona approves the regulation governing home care and establishes rights

The Argentona City Council has definitively approved the Regulations for Home Care Services (SAED), the full text of which is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona on October 14, 2026. The regulation, signed by Mayor Montserrat Capdevila Cañadas on October 5, 2026, establishes the rights and duties of users and their caregiving environment and organizes the home-based benefits of the municipality. The document bears the official reference CVE 202610150127 and occupies pages 1 to 47 of the gazette.

The regulation is framed within Law 12/2007, of October 11, on Social Services of Catalonia; Law 39/2006, of December 14, on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for Dependency (LAPAD), and Decree 142/2010, of October 11, which approves the Social Services Portfolio. The Argentona City Council assumes these services as its own under article 159.3 of Decree 179/1995, of June 13, and exercises social service competencies recognized by Law 7/1985 and Legislative Decree 2/2003, although the mandatory provision as a minimum service is only imposed on municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants.

The text moves away from an exclusively assistance-based and domestic vision of the service to incorporate an integral, community-based, preventive, and person-centered model, which prioritizes proximity and the promotion of autonomy. It incorporates two distinct charters of rights—one for users and another for caregivers—and establishes the foundations for a future equitable co-financing system.

Seven benefits and three service modalities

The SAED consists of a set of benefits provided at home and in the community environment:

• Home help service, with personal care, home care, and socio-educational support.
• Telecare service, with permanent connection 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• Home meal service, with a first course, second course, and dessert, and adapted diets (low sodium, low fat, pureed, diabetic, easy to chew, residue-free, and for celiac disease).
• Support product bank for mobility, bathing, and personal care.
• Laundry service.
• Functional home adaptation program (home repairs).

The home help service is deployed in three modalities: Dependency SAD, linked to the Individual Care Plan (PIA); Social SAD, aimed at people in situations of fragility or survival need, and Convalescence SAD, of a temporary nature, for people who have been discharged from the hospital.

Rights, duties, and sanctioning regime

Chapter 3 of the regulation recognizes fifteen rights for users, including:

• Receive respectful and dignified treatment, with a guarantee of privacy and autonomy.
• Access services under conditions of equality and non-discrimination.
• Have an assigned professional reference person.
• Participate actively in the care process and provide prior consent.
• Receive information regarding the cost of the service, without lack of resources being a cause for exclusion.
• Submit suggestions, complaints, or claims and receive a response within the established timeframes.

Duties include providing truthful data, following the care plan, respecting service personnel, guaranteeing the hygienic conditions of the home, and communicating any non-unforeseen suspension at least 48 hours in advance. Complaints and claims must be resolved within fifteen calendar days, a period reduced to seven days in cases of sudden service interruption, mistreatment, or events with potential criminal relevance.

The sanctioning regime provides for a written warning or suspension of up to 3 days for minor offenses; between 3 and 10 days for serious offenses, and a minimum of 10 days up to the termination of the service for very serious offenses, with a judicial report in case of aggression against personnel.

Access, co-payment, and entry into force

Access to the Social SAD is subject to economic caps: persons or cohabitation units with bank deposits or balances exceeding 18,000 euros or with annual net income exceeding 1.6 times the Sufficiency Income Indicator of Catalonia (IRSC) are excluded, an amount that increases by 30% for each additional member. The caps are automatically updated according to the IRSC, and exceptions are provided for social risk or exclusion and for situations of gender-based violence, in which only the victim’s own income is counted.

Services are financed through municipal budgets, without prejudice to the co-payment determined by the fiscal ordinance of public prices. Service interruption is limited to a maximum of three months, and the review of the user’s situation is carried out at least once a year.

The regulation enters into force the day after its full publication in the bulletin, provided that the period of fifteen business days provided for in article 70.2, in relation to article 65.2 of Law 7/1985, has elapsed. Already authorized SAEDs will remain in effect, but must fully adapt to the regulation in the event of substantial modification, expansion, request for a new service, or review of the provision.

The approval provides stable legal coverage for a proximity service that directly affects elderly people, people with dependency or disabilities, and their families, and establishes for the first time in Argentona a clear framework of enforceable rights, response times, and economic access limits. It also reinforces the protection of direct care staff, with protocols for aggression and the possibility of suspending the service when there is a risk to their physical or psychological integrity.

Fuente: Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona, edition of October 14, 2026, Local Administration, pp. 1-47 (official reference: CVE 202610150127).