Minister Borislav Gutsanov to FACTI: Illegal homes should be held criminally liable

Social Affairs Minister Borislav Gutsanov was recently heard in the parliamentary committee on demographic policy, children and family in connection with the measures taken by the state to prevent unlicensed homes for social services. We recall that the mass inspections and measures came about after the scandalous cases in the villages of Yagoda, Govedartsi and Varna, where elderly people were found in a helpless state, being looked after in buildings without any conditions. Where and what is the role of the state… Social Affairs Minister Borislav Gutsanov speaks to FACTI.

- Minister Gutsanov, “guest room“ is the new fashion in nursing homes?
- For me, these are some ugly phenomena, an attempt by unscrupulous people - if I can even call them that - to take advantage of the vulnerable, the elderly. It was very difficult for me to accept that someone was capable of such a thing. To give an example to the readers - I heard how one of those involved in the illegal home in the village of Yagoda boasted about how well his business was going and had even expanded it with a funeral agency. Do you think this is normal behavior?
These people are taking advantage of a loophole in the law. So on the one hand, they receive large unregulated profits, on which they do not pay adequate taxes and social security contributions, but at the same time they endanger the health and lives of our mothers and fathers. This must stop. For the first time, the state has shown with its actions that it has the will to fight these perversions.

- We have witnessed many striking violations, but what are the conclusions for you, which you draw from the inspections in the homes for the elderly?
- There are many conclusions, but first of all I will put the purely human, moral conclusions. I have already had the opportunity to say that during the actions in the villages of Yagoda, Varna and Govedartsi we took 230 people out of these illegal homes, some of them - in horrific conditions. Only 38 were taken by their relatives. In my opinion, this speaks very seriously about us as a society. And one more thing - in the discovered illegal homes there was no medical staff, there is no responsibility, the lives of the elderly are really in danger - and yet their relatives are almost resistant and do not want to take them out…
The other conclusion is that control must be tightened and penalties increased. I can guarantee that the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy (MLSP) will not turn a blind eye to violations.

This phenomenon has existed for so many years, but now the entire state is really getting active to fight it.

I made it clear to my colleagues from the Agency for the Quality of Social Services (AKSU) - I stand behind every employee who does their job conscientiously and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with them. However, I will not hesitate to take measures if I find out that someone has turned a blind eye to violations.
Legal changes are also needed in the Criminal Code - people who provide social services without a license must be held accountable, as their activities endanger the health and lives of elderly and vulnerable people.
Currently, the maximum fine that the Agency for the Quality of Social Services (AKSU) can impose is 7,000 leva. This is inadequate. Such a penalty cannot provide the necessary prevention. It is insignificant against the background of the high fees collected by private homes.
The capacity of AKSU must also be strengthened - currently there are about 50 inspectors, and as I have already said - in less than half a year they have conducted 500 inspections.

- The nursing home in the village of Yagoda caused a wave of indignation, but inspections were carried out there, violations were found, prescriptions were written. Where has the state been for years to push everything forward only now?
- Do you know how many signals there are in the Agency for the Quality of Social Services for Yagoda - one. It is to it that colleagues react. You cannot convince me that no one knew what was happening there. The agency reacted as quickly as possible, but its inspectors were not allowed to conduct an inspection. After that, the provider renounced its license and the AKSU has no authority to conduct an inspection - this is exactly the loophole in the law that we were talking about.

This time, however, the state managed to clearly show that no one can make fun of the control bodies.

This is important because we need to stop the feeling of impunity.
And why now - because now the institutions have joined forces. Note - this happened just a few months after the cabinet started working. We united many institutions - MLSP, AKSU, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, Executive Agency “Medical Supervision“. I also thank the Prime Minister once again for all the support.

- How many nursing homes have already been inspected? What are the findings…
- In just five months since the beginning of 2025, the inspections that the Agency for the Quality of Social Services has conducted have already exceeded 500. These are inspections not only in nursing homes, but in various social services. The extraordinary inspections that began after the coordinated actions between the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, the Ministry of Justice and with the support of the Prime Minister, are already about 100. All this is thanks to the extraordinary efforts of colleagues from the Agency for the Quality of Social Services, who with extremely limited capacity manage to achieve a lot. I would also like to thank the “Medical Supervision“ Agency, which also did a huge amount of work. The termination of this illegal activity does not only concern the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, but also the Ministry of Health (MH). You can see that some of these places are posing as hospices – whose activities are regulated by the Ministry of Health. There are many findings. In licensed, legal homes for the elderly, colleagues try to help – where there is a need to give instructions to improve care. In illegal ones, this cannot be done. The conclusion for me is that illegal practices are largely tied to the problem of the shadow economy. The owners want to make huge profits without paying taxes and without having legally employed and qualified staff.

- The last case was about a home for the elderly in Suhodol, whose license expired years ago. The question again is who monitors this, which state institutions are…
- I will allow myself to correct you. The illegal home in Suhodol never had a license.

- The owner of the home said that she simply forgot to renew her license…
- The Social Services Act has been in effect since 2020 and the provider that runs this home has never applied for a license. And here we come again to this loophole in the law and the need to criminalize the unregulated provision of this activity. I personally heard the manager of the illegal home in question explain in the media that she did not realize that there was a new law for five years. Would she have been so careless not to inform herself if she knew that there were real penalties, not ridiculous fines?

- Care for the elderly will become increasingly tangible, the population in Bulgaria is aging. What is the state doing, what is the state policy in this direction… -
This is, in fact, the big topic. Yes, we will make legislative changes, we will tighten control, but the big task is to ensure real, high-quality and adequate care.
Due to the demographic catastrophe, the need for such services will increasingly grow. We have no time to waste. The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy is already working on the topic.

Renovations are currently underway at 81 nursing homes - state-owned, provided for the management of municipalities.

A total of 381 million leva under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan have been set aside for this. We have made extraordinary efforts to save them and we succeeded. Separately, we have over 330 million leva for the construction of 254 new social services specifically for the elderly and people with disabilities. That is precisely why we are inviting all mayors of municipalities on July 8 to see how far they have come with these activities. I want to be convinced that they are actively working. Yes, we managed to save these funds, but now it is their turn to manage to build these services and complete the renovations on time.
Separately, at this meeting we will also collect information about the free building stock that they have and which can be used to build new homes. This will really require serious resources and we need to see what the possibilities are.