People living in socially excluded localities face long-term unemployment, material and housing distress, foreclosures, debt and low education. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) has spent CZK 2.8 billion from the Operational Programme Employment to address these problems and to increase the employability of these people. Between 2016 and 2023, more than 23,000 participants were supported in 418 projects. As the SAO audit showed, the impact of the projects on the situation of people from socially excluded localities was limited and short-lived. As a rule, the supported projects had only a weak impact on the overall situation in the municipalities where such localities exist. Only 24 % project participants managed to be more permanently integrated into the labour market. The average cost of support per project participant was CZK 110 208.
The MoLSA placed emphasis primarily on the use of funds: it defined the purpose of the subsidy very broadly and did not ensure that only projects with clear and measurable objectives were always supported. The SAO has repeatedly pointed out the above-mentioned shortcomings in the management of the Operational Programme Employment (e.g. 21/29, č. 22/28 or no. 23/21).
The audit also showed that the MoLSA did not systematically monitor whether the support led to the elimination of some of the root causes of social exclusion, such as housing and material need, indebtedness or foreclosures. Nor did it monitor whether the support contributed to the employment of people with low qualifications. This is one of the groups most at risk of social exclusion.
The projects of coordinated approach to socially excluded localities, for which CZK 1.8 billion of the total support was spent, were to be crucial for social inclusion. These projects led to the labour market participation of 18 % formerly unemployed or inactive participants. For the group of people aged 54 and over, this was only 10 %. Among the coordinated approach projects supported, there were also those that did not lead to the employment of any of the participants. For three such projects, the MLSA spent EUR 9.5 million unnecessarily. CZK. An example is a project worth CZK 2.5 million. We are not afraid of work. Its aim was to place 110 people on the legal labour market or at least to increase their chances of success on it. However, according to the SAO's findings, none of the 58 participants in the project were employed six months after their participation in the project ended.
The coordinated approach projects were also intended to contribute to the development of social entrepreneurship in places with socially excluded localities. As the SAO audit showed, only two social enterprises were created thanks to these projects during the whole programming period. The contribution of these projects to the development of social entrepreneurship was therefore minimal.
The majority (68 %) of the funds provided for the coordinated approach projects were used by the beneficiaries for personnel costs, i.e. for salaries of coordinators, trainers, counsellors, social workers, etc. Beneficiaries used another 20 % of expenditure for so-called indirect costs, i.e. administration and overhead. Approximately three per cent of the expenditure went to direct support to the target group (e.g. salary allowances).
Out of a total of 104 municipalities where the coordinated approach projects were implemented, 58 municipalities remained burdened with the highest degree of social exclusion in 2023, i.e. almost 56 %. Despite the partial benefits of the projects, the deeper causes of social exclusion were not eliminated in these municipalities. This had direct implications for state budget expenditure. In these 58 municipalities alone, the MoLSA paid out CZK 14.2 billion from the state budget for living allowances and housing supplements between 2016 and 2023.
The lower impact of the projects was due, among other things, to the method of financing of the Agency for Social Inclusion at the Ministry for Regional Development, which reinforces short-term non-systemic solutions and does not allow flexible responses to the current needs in the affected localities, but also to the weak motivation and usually low qualifications of some people living in excluded localities and long-term inappropriate legislation. The MoLSA, together with other ministries, has responded by preparing amendments or proposals for new laws. According to the SAO, it will be important how the new legislative instruments are applied in practice.
The SAO included a total of nine projects of the Operational Programme Employment in the audit sample. The SAO found that the selected beneficiaries spent part of the funds intended for social inclusion in socially excluded localities in an inefficient and ineffective manner. None of the beneficiaries fully achieved all the set project objectives. Three projects did not have clear and measurable objectives at all, yet the MoLSA spent almost EUR 50 million on them. CZK 50 million. The funds spent contributed only to a limited extent to improving the situation of the beneficiaries.
SAO/ gnews - RoZ
ILLUSTRATION PHOTO - Agency for Social Inclusion
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