Non-standard services: the ambitious challenge of disability reform
One of the most significant elements of the disability reform implemented by Minister for Disabilities Alessandra Locatelli is the provision in Legislative Decree No. 62/2024 that persons with disabilities may request the development of a so-called life project, defined as "an individual, personalized, and participatory plan for the person with disabilities that, starting from their desires, expectations, and preferences, aims to identify, within a unified existential vision, formal and informal support to enable them to improve their quality of life, develop their full potential, choose their life contexts, and participate with equal opportunities compared to others" (Article 2, paragraph 1, letter n).
In this sense , the life plan cannot be reduced to a simple document describing one or more standard services based on what is already offered and structured in the local area . Instead, it must represent the set of supports, even atypical ones, that can respond individually and personalized to the support needs identified through the so-called "multidimensional assessment," that is, the analysis of what is needed for the individual, with their functional profile, to participate, on an equal basis with others, in those specific contexts freely chosen by them, identifying any obstacles.
Indeed, Article 26, paragraph 6, of the aforementioned decree specifies that "the measures, benefits, and services contained in the life project are determined to ensure the individual's inclusion and, to this end, can be tailored to the needs emerging from the multidimensional assessment and can be customized to the available offerings ." This goal can be achieved with the so-called "project budget," which combines all human, professional, technological, instrumental, and economic resources—public, private, and third sector—already present or deployable within the local community, the family network, and the informal support system needed to support the project's implementation.
Indeed, the project budget cannot be considered simply as the mathematical sum of expenses to be covered with spot funding for one service or another. It is characterized as a large basket of resources , both financial and otherwise , made available by the project's stakeholders to ensure its implementation, continuity, and sustainability over time. This includes considering the activation of a service that does not fall within the standard service offerings and that, otherwise, would not have been activated by each entity involved alone. This is the case, for example, of the development of a transport service outside the city limits for a university student with disabilities. The university provides a minibus (which it already uses with its own driver for intra-city transport for students with disabilities), a volunteer association provides a human resource such as the driver (who is already covered by appropriate insurance), and the companion may be a personal assistant (a professional resource) paid through independent living projects approved by the relevant Area/Region.
The budget, as described, can recombine resources from different areas (while always respecting the relevant legislation) through resource integration, co-planning with third sector entities, resource reconversion, reasonable adjustments (when the conditions set out in Article 17 of the decree are met), and budget self-management through the transfer of financial resources or vouchers to citizens.
The project budget is a large basket for thinking about the activation of a service that does not fall within the canonical offer units and which, otherwise, would not have been activated.
To send a clear message regarding the need to develop flexible project budgets that also ensure "atypical" needs are met with "atypical" support, the Minister for Disabilities also mandated that, with Legislative Decree No. 62/2024, a Fund for the Implementation of Life Projects be established. Article 31, paragraph 1, of the aforementioned decree states: "For the implementation of life projects that involve the activation of interventions, services, and support not included in the service units of the reference territory , the Fund for the Implementation of Life Projects, hereinafter referred to as the 'Fund', is established in the budget estimates of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, for subsequent transfer to the autonomous budget of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. The Fund's allocation is set at €25 million annually starting in 2025..." Consequently, it is necessary to better clarify what is meant by support "not included in the supply units of the reference territory", otherwise known as "atypical", and when this Fund can be used.
By support "not included in the supply units of the reference territory", which can be financed by the Fund, we mean services, interventions and benefits that meet all of the following conditions, namely:
– not included in the essential levels of benefits (both social, healthcare and socio-healthcare), state or identified by the relevant Region;
– not already part of the local offering (such as services – even if not included in the essential levels – but listed, for example, in the local social plan as present in the area);
– not otherwise activated with the various project budget construction methods provided for in Article 28 of Legislative Decree no. 62/2024 (resource reconversion, resource integration, co-planning, reasonable accommodation, budget self-management).
The resources of this new specific Fund cannot replace what should be activated with the resources already allocated: they are integrative and additional.
Therefore, the resources of this new specific Fund cannot replace what should be activated with the resources already allocated , under current legislation, for benefits and services in favor of people with disabilities which flow into the project budget, but are integrative and additional .
This Fund will then be distributed annually to the Regions based on the needs emerging from the new approaches to developing life projects in the relevant area, which will be identified by February 28th of each year. This will be done through a decree issued by the Prime Minister or the political authority delegated to disability matters, in consultation with the Ministers of Economy and Finance, Health, Labor, and Social Policies, following consultation at the Unified Conference. This decree will also identify the intervention priorities, the methods of delivery, and the methods for monitoring and verifying the adequacy of the services provided.
Pending the implementation (and nationwide implementation) of the Life Plan regulations and the initial identification of needs, the legislator has established that the Fund's resources will be distributed among the regions in proportion to their resident population. Therefore, during 2025 and 2026, this distribution criterion for the Fund's resources must be followed. This distribution criterion has already led to an initial advance payment of the 2025 allocation for the regions that include the nine provinces undergoing the pilot program starting January 1, 2025 (Brescia, Catanzaro, Florence, Forlì-Cesena, Frosinone, Perugia, Salerno, Sassari, and Trieste), limited and in proportion to the population of each of these nine provinces.
In fact, with Regulation no. 197/2024 on experimentation relating to multidimensional assessment and the development of life plans , the aim was to allocate these resources to encourage the areas undergoing experimentation to experiment, right from the first days, with the structuring of atypical services .
The offices of the Minister for Disabilities immediately established a support system for all needs of the trial areas, including those related to the development of atypical services in the regions. This activity also resulted in the Minister, in agreement with the Regions, promoting so-called "Territorial Support Units." These are small, agile, informal operational groups composed of some of the Minister's experts, representatives of the Regions, the Social Territorial Areas, and the Health Authorities of the trial areas. These groups are responsible for addressing any concerns regarding the implementation of the reform or identifying good practices to disseminate to other areas.
The offices of the Minister for Disabilities have immediately created a support system for the territories under experimentation, including the needs inherent to the development of atypical services in the territories
The Regions will submit monitoring data for the first half of 2025, as required by the aforementioned Regulation, in the coming days and will be made public in September. This will reveal whether the pilot areas have begun to seize this opportunity, including for atypical services, and what directions have been taken in using this Fund . Minister Alessandra Locatelli's goal is to progressively increase the Fund's resources to ensure greater opportunities consistent with the aforementioned objectives.
Minister Locatelli's objective is to progressively increase the Fund's resources in order to guarantee greater opportunities
Meanwhile, preparations are being made to allocate all remaining Fund resources to the regions for the 2025 financial year , to allow all other territories to have a budget with which to begin experimenting with this flexible and integrated approach to project budget construction, and to implement a proper system for identifying needs in relation to the interventions required in the various territories.
Gianfranco De Robertis is an expert in the Technical Secretariat for policies in favor of people with disabilities of the Minister for Disabilities – Presidency of the Council of Ministers
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