The money confiscated in 2021 by the Government of the UK from Luca Filat, the son of the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova Vlad Filat, is used to remunerate the personal assistants in Moldova who look after persons with severe disabilities and covered a considerable part of the costs associated with the employment of carers. The confiscated sum was enough to remunerate personal assistants during four months, but most of the carers continue working this year either due to the additional financing from the state budget or the allocations from district budgets, IPN reports.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection said personal assistance is a social service intended for persons who fully depend on another person. Most of the times, the personal assistants are relatives of persons with disabilities – mothers, fathers, siblings, etc. As these need to look after such persons, they cannot go to work and this way cannot benefit from remuneration or from an appropriate social package. Their employment as personal assistants enables them to benefit from an allocation, health insurance, pensions and other social benefits.
Nationwide, the demand for personal assistants exceeds the budget possibilities. There are now over 5,000 personal assistants who are paid from the Population Support Fund and local budgets, while another 3,500 personal assistants are waiting to be hired.
Last September, Minister Marcel Spatari and the British Ambassador signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the return of £458,068 confiscated from Moldovan citizen Luca Filat. This money was used to hire 543 personal assistants for a period of four months.
The way in which the money was spent was monitored by Keystone Moldova, which ascertained that the number of personal assistants in the country remains high and the needs are covered only in the municipality of Chisinau. Of the 543 personal assistants remunerated from that sum, 322 continue working and the sustainability of the service is this way ensured.
The Ministry is looking continuously for resources for supplementing the Population Support Fund from which the personal assistants are remunerated nationwide. “The Population Support Fund will be supplemented with resources coming from the humanitarian assistance provided by Romania in the form of crude oil (money from the use of crude oil will be directed to this fund) and from grants provided by such international organizations as UNICEF and UNHCR. These resources will enable to raise the pay of the existing personal assistants and to hire over 1,000 new personal assistants until the end of 2022,” stated Minister of Labor Marcel Spatari, who is quoted in a press release.
