People requiring home help in Almuñécar have been unable to receive it for the last twelve months, thanks to the dispute between the Town Hall and the private service provider, Adhara, which resulted in the company going bust.

As things stand, Almuñécar is the only town in the province that does not provide home help to persons with mobility or other physical limitations on weekends or public holidays, despite the Town Hall having received funding for precisely this service from the Junta de Andalucía. In fact, Almuñécar will now have to return these funds, which no doubt have been spent elsewhere.

The problems began when the Town Hall failed to hand over the money from the Junta to Adhara. Months passed and finally, after the company could no longer pay its workers, they went on strike. The Town Hall rescinded the contract with Adhara and awarded to another company, Arquisocial, who after a very short time dropped the contract.

Then the Town Hall itself decided to provide the services, but in a very shoddy manner, using, according to one of the opposition parties, poorly trained staff and volunteers.

Where, in the meantime, you might ask, were the funds from the Junta?

Furthermore the service provided by the Town Hall does not cover weekends and public holidays, so that over the 3-day break at the beginning of November, some dependents were unable to receive help to even wash.