Esparreguera approves the home help service regulations without objections

The Plenary of the Esparreguera City Council initially approved the text of the Home Help Service Regulations in the ordinary session of July 29, 2026, and now publishes it in full following final approval. The Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona of October 21, 2026, contains the full text of the regulation, with the official reference CVE 202610153548, in an edict signed by Mayor Juan Jurado Bracero on October 8, 2026. No allegations were submitted during the public information process.

A process without allegations

The file was open to the public for thirty days through an announcement published in the BOPB of August 14, 2026, and in the DOGC number 9728, of August 12, 2026, as well as on the corporation’s notice board between August 17 and September 28, 2026. The council notes that no allegations were registered within this period, meaning the initial approval became final without modifications.

The published text spans forty pages and is organized into eight chapters and twenty-eight articles, in addition to three additional provisions, one final provision, and four annexes, which include the service proposal model, the care contract, and the corresponding addendum. The regulation comes into force the day after full publication in the gazette, once the fifteen-business-day period established by local government legislation has elapsed.

Three modalities and two types of provision

The regulation deploys the Home Help Service as a provision of the basic social services portfolio and distinguishes three modalities of care:

• Dependency SAD: for people with a recognized degree of dependency according to Law 39/2006, with an indefinite duration linked to the Individual Care Program.
• Preventive SAD: for people in the process of dependency recognition, for a maximum of eighteen months.
• Social SAD: aimed at adults at social risk and families with children under eighteen in situations of vulnerability.

Regarding the content, the service is structured into two types: personal care —hygiene, nutrition, medical and medication monitoring, mobilization, accompaniment, and emotional support— and home care, which includes cleaning, laundry, domestic shopping, and minor maintenance. Cleaning does not cover outdoor patios or communal areas.

Access, priorities, and sanctioning regime

Access is always channeled through the municipal Basic Social Services, which conduct interviews and home visits and may agree to an ex officio intervention. It is an indispensable requirement to be registered as a resident of Esparreguera and to sign the care contract. Once the proposal is communicated, the provision is generally activated within forty-eight hours, or within twenty-four if the case is urgent.

In case of a lack of resources, technicians will prioritize the dependency SAD (Home Care Service) and, subsequently, the following preventive situations:

• People over eighty years old registered as living alone at the residence.
• Couples over eighty years old without family support.
• People with incomes lower than 1.5 times the IRSC.
• Single parents or guardians of a dependent person.
• Hospital discharges without conditions to remain at home autonomously.

The regulation also establishes the rights and duties of the users, the data protection regime in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Organic Law 3/2018, and a sanctioning regime with three levels: minor offenses can be fined up to half of the IRSC, serious offenses entail suspension for up to twelve months, and very serious offenses, the termination of the benefit. Funding is charged to the municipal budget, without prejudice to agreements with other administrations and possible co-payment formulas based on economic capacity.

An administrative contentious appeal may be filed against the final approval before the High Court of Justice of Catalonia within a period of two months.

A stable framework for a frontline service

With this regulation, Esparreguera ceases to manage home help through administrative practice and provides it with a stable regulatory framework, with explicit access criteria, priorities, and guarantees. The regulation arrives in a context of increasing pressure on basic social services and provides formal coverage to a group—elderly and dependent people—which, according to the text itself, is the primary user of the service in the municipality.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Barcelona, October 21, 2026, Local Administration, pp. 1-40 (official reference: CVE 202610153548).