The improvement of social services administration in Lithuanian municipalities: the cases of Vilnius and Varėna districts

Social services is a constitvent part of the social security system. Social services are provided in cases of social risk such as illness, disability, senility, widowhood, family, childcare, unemployment, lodging, social exclusion. The main objective of the social service system is to provide social assistance in various non-monetary forms and support payment for people who are not able to provide for themselves. Social support should be organized in such a way as to enhance the activity of people and their responsibility for themselves and their own families. In the theoretical part of this article, the authors analyse the organization of social services, the legal assumptions of social services organization and the type of organization. The main focus is on the administration of social services at the municipal level: management, planning, human resources, and control of social services. The social characteristics of theVilnius district and the analysis of institutions offering social services in Vilnius district are presented. The main aim of the article is to investigate problems in the administration of social services at the municipal level in Vilnius district as the basis of an experts survey. The workers of institutions providing social services in Vilnius municipality (22 respondents) participated in the investigation. The second part of the article evaluates of the efficiency and quality of social services for elderly people in the Varėna district municipality and care homes, areas for the improvement of services and the satisfaction of recipients. Social services are evaluated on three levels: organizational (municipality), service institutions (the elderly care home) and the recipients of services (care home residents) using Servqual the evaluation criteria of A. Parasuraman, L. Berry, V. Zeithaml and Ch. Gronroos’ Perceived Service Quality model the article presents. A statistical analysis of social services evaluates the correspondence of the services to social care eligibility standards and makes suggestions for improvement in the provision of services.Straipsnyje apžvelgiama socialinių paslaugų samprata ir jų teikimo ypatumai; aptariamos socialinių paslaugų administravimo prielaidos ir problemos, analizuojami efektyvumo vertinimo kriterijai. Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas socialinių paslaugų poreikis Lietuvos savivaldybėse, analizuojamos naujos socialinių paslaugų formos ir kita. Apibendrinant teorines išvadas, remiamasi Lietuvos Respublikos norminių teisės aktų nuostatomis, Vilniaus ir Varėnos rajonų savivaldybių sociologinių apklausų rezultatais. Šiame straipsnyje taip pat analizuojama, kaip veikia socialinių paslaugų teikėjai nagrinėjamose savivaldybėse, atliktas tyrimas, kaip vietos bendruomenė įtraukiama į socialinių paslaugų planavimo procesą, su kokiomis materialinėmis ir technologinėmis problemomis susiduria socialinių paslaugų organizatoriai