A total of 182,532 people were in March 2025 waiting to receive the services or benefits that correspond to them for their situation of dependence. A waiting list that, although it is maintained in a large number, has been reduced by 9.4% in a year and over 40% from 2020. However, the time spent since an employee asks for a disposition – such as Telecare services, help for the home or residence – it is almost a year: 338 days must wait for candidates to receive these servicesthat is, the double of the average resolution time that sets the Ley And ten days more than what they had to expect last year, in 2024.
They are data provided this Thursday by the Ministry of Social Rights, which from now on will begin to collect and offer the figures of the evolution of the system for autonomy and attention to dependence (Saad) to identify the progress and challenges of the system. The statistics, presented by the Secretary of State, Rosa Martínez, indicate it In Spain there are more than 1.5 million people who currently receive an advantage, 108,851 more than the previous year. A number that, as Martínez pointed out, will continue to increase in the coming years due to the demographic trend and the increase in life expectancy. The executive estimates that, from here to 2030, there will be about 400,000 more candidates for dependence.
For number two of Pablo BustintyThat the waiting list has been reduced in recent years is a particularly positive fact if it takes into account that the number of applications has grown by 5.4% in one year and 0.7% in just one month. The government is in more than two million questions to receive attention in Spain (People active in the system), among the dependent people who are on the waiting list, those who are waiting for a resolution and those who have already attributed a benefit.
As Martínez pointed out in a press conference, one of the main reasons for that reduction in the waiting list “It is undoubtedly the increase in funding ” Intended for the agency, which has grown by 150% in the last five years, up to 3,411 million assigned in 2024. Although this investment will be blocked this year by the absence of new state budgets (PGE). “That the system needs multiple funding are evidence,” said the Secretary of State for Social Rights, which he invited to “invest in a social protection system that will be increasingly important”.
Almost a year to receive a benefit
All the people who, Having spent more than six months from their question, they have not yet received any benefit without a justified cause for this. “They can wait for a resolution of the degree of disability, a recognition of the right of benefit or that the recognized benefit is effective,” Martínez detailed. In addition, only this March died 2,592 people who were waiting for the evaluation of their question or who had their dependence recognized but without a attributed disposition. That is, 18% less than the same month of 2024.
From the territories, Andalusia is the community with the highest percentage of the dependent population waiting to receive a benefit (8.83%)followed by Catalonia (6.12%), Canary Islands (4.20%), Valencian Community (3.95%) and Madrid (3.38%). At the other end, with less waiting list, there are Castilla y León (with only 0.01%), Ceuta (0.22%), Cantabria (0.34%), the Rioja (0.42%) and Melilla (0.47%).
One of the major challenges indicated by social rights is linked to the time when these employees have to wait until they receive the service they asked for. If the law marks a maximum of 180 days of managing the procedures, in March 2025 that period was in 388 days, that is, double. A situation that the secretary of state attributes that more and more people require attention. The wait shoots in some communities such as Andalusia (587 days), the Canary Islands (549), Murcia (543), Galicia (393) and Asturias (342). On the contrary, the territories with a shorter waiting time are counted (54 days), Castilla y León (115 days) and the Basque country (128 days).
Women: dependent people and non -professional caregivers
The data provided on Thursday also show a profile of candidates and caregivers. In both cases, women are the majority. Of the over 2.1 million candidates for any advantage, 62% are women and over half are over 80 years old.
As for non -professional caregivers – winners to economic help of care of a relative – they are also mainly women who take care of their fathers and mothers and have an ESA between 50 and 65 years. “These data force us to talk about the dependence care system with a gender perspective,” said Martínez, who also underlined the “imperative need” a Introduce other professional caregivers in the system “which can cover most of the work done by families”With the impact that this has on his professional career and on his quality of life.
