Alt Urgell Cuts Home Care Time to 50 Minutes Despite Hourly Fees

The Alt Urgell County Council has awarded its home care service (SAD) contract to the public company Iausa, but the agreement includes a clause that reduces effective user attention time from 60 to 50 minutes per session.

Under the contract's "50+10" model, professionals spend 50 minutes providing direct care at a user's home, with the remaining 10 minutes allocated for travel between addresses. Users pay for a full hour of service—often with partial subsidies for vulnerable individuals—yet receive only 50 minutes of actual assistance, as council officials confirmed when questioned. The council has not responded to concerns about the clause.

SAD workers have long opposed this formula, successfully blocking it during a prior stint under provider SUMAR. They argue it causes double harm: shorter care periods for recipients and diversion of user fees to cover staff travel. Workers also contend it violates Spanish dependency law, citing Decree 727/2007, which defines an "hour" of assistance as a single 60-minute unit, aligned with the Social Rights Department's contract guidelines specifying 60 minutes.

Staff recently contacted political groups ahead of last Thursday's ordinary council plenary session, urging action. No representatives raised the issue, prompting frustration among workers, who feel their professional input was ignored in drafting the technical terms.

The handover to Iausa, a council-owned entity, caps years of staff campaigning for remunicipalisation after external management. The two-year contract, initially extendable by another two years, totals €833,702.