The Territorial Council of Social Rights - which brings together the Ministry of Social Rights and the autonomous communities - has approved the proposal to share the agreed level of protection of the System of Autonomy and Attention to Dependency (SAAD). Thanks to this agreement, Cantabria will receive 24 million euros, which represents an increase of 3% compared to 2024.
The State's overall investment at this level amounts to 783.2 million euros, "the highest figure recorded for the third consecutive year". These funds will be transferred to the autonomous communities through bilateral agreements and will serve to strengthen the provision of services and the continuous improvement of the quality of care for people in situations of dependency.
“This increase consolidates the path of continuous reinforcement of the system of dependency promoted by the current Government of Spain, reversing the cuts of the previous Executive of the PP, and allows Cantabria to continue expanding and professionalizing the attention it pays to its most vulnerable citizens,” said the delegate of the Government, Eugenia Gómez de Diego.
Record funding at this agreed level has been maintained since 2023, and
consolidates the investment that the Government of Spain has made in recent years
to strengthen the Unit after this level of protection was abolished in the last decade (year 2012) within a budget cut
which reduced the state funding of SAAD by 5 billion euros.
It was 2021, when the Government of Spain recovered this level of funding by providing an amount of 283 million euros. Since then, state investment at the agreed level has begun a path of growth that has led it to almost triple the funds earmarked for this item today.
How the background is distributed
The distribution of the investment of the level agreed between the autonomous governments is carried out following the technical and demographic criteria that were established in the Shock Plan for the promotion of the SAAD and that were approved by the autonomous governments themselves in a Territorial Council held on January 15, 2021. This agreement established indicators that measure the efforts made by each regional executive to improve the quality of the Unit’s services, with differences in this performance determining that each regional government receives a different amount each year.
These criteria are grouped into four differentiated funds, which in 2025 mobilize the following amounts:
a) Structural fund - 145.8 million euros. The evolution of the potentially dependent population, the cost of services, territorial area, population dispersion and insularity are observed.
b) Management fund - EUR 175 million. The management of each regional government is measured, following the number of people served, administrative agility or regional investment.
(c) Target Achievement Fund - EUR 262.4 million: The evolution of the objectives approved in 2021 is valued: the improvement in the employment of the sector, reduction of the waiting list, quality of services and services...
(d) Fund on Common Accreditation and Quality Criteria for SAAD Centres and Services - EUR 200 million: This fund is conditional on the investments made by the autonomous governments to reach the criteria of accreditation and quality in the centers and services of the SAAD.
The agreed level is one of the three levels of protection on which the public funding of the System is structured. The others are:
- The minimum level: It is entirely the responsibility of the General Administration of the State and is determined by the number of persons in a situation of dependency who are receiving an effective benefit. The minimum level amounted in 2024 to 2,628 million euros, 186 million euros more than the previous year.
- Additional level: It is the responsibility of the autonomous communities exclusively.
Overall, the Government’s investment in Dependence stood at 3,478 million in 2024. This figure represents a threefold increase from the 1.13 billion euros allocated in 2014.