In statements to Lusa, the president of ANCC, José Bourdain, said that, especially when renewing three-year contracts of the National Network of Integrated Continuing Care with institutions, Social Security ends up delaying [payments] for six months".

"I would like to ask what would happen to politicians and civil servants if they went six months without receiving their salaries", lamented the official, asking: "If these institutions do not receive their payments, how do they pay salaries and daily expenses?".

José Bourdain also said that the increase in the amount to be paid for continuing care for 2024 "has also not yet been paid".

"We are talking about tens of thousands of euros in total and, in some cases, in larger organisations, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of euros in debt", he said.

As an example, he pointed to the institution he runs (Cercitop, in Sintra), which has a four-month delay on the part of Social Security, and the information he received from the Association for the Development of Figueira (Penafiel), which complains of difficulties already in paying salaries for the month of May.

In the information sent by this institution to ANCC, to which Lusa had access, those responsible point to "problems in the financial participation related to the atypical agreement of the Casa Abrigo".

According to the report sent by the institution to Social Security, not only was "the difference that was pending for the month of March" not regularised, but "they also did not pay the updated amount for the year 2024".

"Adding the two months (March and May), we are talking about another 10,500 euros that are missing from our institution and that are added to other pending situations that the ISS has with our institution", explains AD Figueira.

In the letter, AD Figueira warns that it is reaching "the limit of the bearable" and says that the payment of salaries for the next month may be at risk".

One of the ISS's responses sent to the institution indicates that the delay in paying the amounts updated to 2024 is due to "a system error", which will have occurred in several cases.

In statements to Lusa, José Bourdain also pointed out another situation common to continuing care units of institutions": delays in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and the PARES programme.

"In some applications approved under the PRR there is a long delay in reimbursements and this also applies to the PARES programme, unfortunately, in the construction of social equipment for people with disabilities, day care centres, nursing homes and day centres", he explained, stressing the "enormous delay" in reimbursements for works that have already started.

The official also insists: "If there is already underfunding and many units are in distress and if they still do not receive the little they are paid, they enter a very strong liquidity crisis. Some have access to bank credit, but others do not".

The Lusa agency tried to obtain a position from the Social Security Institute on the matter, but has not yet received a response.

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