The Ministry of Welfare has prepared a draft informative report “Improvement of the Disability Assessment System for Adults”, which proposes a comprehensive reform of the disability assessment system for adults. The report aims to strengthen the assessment of a persons functioning as the primary component in establishing disability status, while also revising the procedure for assessing the need for special care and the provision of corresponding financial support. The draft report has been submitted for repeated interinstitutional consultation.
The draft report was discussed on 10 June, at a meeting of the National Council on Disability Affairs chaired by Minister of Welfare Reinis Uzulnieks.
“We want to create a modern, fair, and humane disability assessment system based not only on medical criteria, but also on the assessment of a person’s functioning. We are therefore proposing to pilot this new approach following consideration by the Cabinet of Ministers, so that, after evaluating the pilot results, a decision can be taken on its permanent implementation from 2030,” said Minister of Welfare Reinis Uzulnieks.
The draft report proposes improvements in three key areas: the disability assessment methodology, the assessment of the need for special care for adults through the introduction of enhanced assessment tools; and the procedure for determining state financial support for persons requiring special care, including the introduction of a tiered care allowance based on the intensity of care intensity.
The draft informative report is intended as an interim policy document, ] to inform the Cabinet of Ministers about the proposed approach, including the indicative funding required for its implementation, , and to seek government support for piloting the new model from the fourth quarter of 2026 to the fourth quarter of 2027, in order to assess its suitability for implementation in Latvia.
Following the evaluation of the pilot project, the Ministry of Welfare will submit a conceptual report to the Cabinet of Ministers, inviting the government to decide on the permanent implementation of the new approach from 2030, while also assessing the reform’s fiscal impact.