Catalan youth leisure entities warn of financial risk due to subsidy delay

Eleven associations denounce that the Department of Social Rights has not opened the anticipated call for aid for the 2026 academic year.

Joves i monitors realitzant una activitat d'oci educatiu en un espai exterior, simbolitzant la tasca dels esplais i agrupaments escoltes.

Joves i monitors realitzant una activitat d'oci educatiu en un espai exterior, simbolitzant la tasca dels esplais i agrupaments escoltes.

Eleven scout groups, youth centers, and leisure clubs in Catalonia denounced on Thursday that the Department of Social Rights has not opened the anticipated subsidy call, jeopardizing their funding for the 2026 academic year.

The entities, including Escoltes Catalans and the Federació de Casals de Joves de Catalunya, regret that, unlike previous years, the aid lines remain closed, preventing economic planning. This situation often forces them to request loans to cover payments during the first months of the year.

"The criticism is not so much that the subsidy is done in one way or another, but that the timing of the aid puts our activity at risk."

Gerard Trias · Co-President of Escoltes Catalans
The Department of Social Rights attributes the difficulty to the extension of the Budgets, which complicates the streamlining of procedures. Last year, despite opening early, resolutions did not arrive until August 8, generating great instability.

"We are providing a public service that often the Administration should be offering."

Josep Maria Ballesteros · General Secretary of the Federation of Youth Centers of Catalonia
The associations, which also include Minyons Escoltes i Guies de Catalunya and the Fundació Pere Tarrés, have scheduled a meeting with the department on January 27 at the headquarters of the Directorate General for Youth in Barcelona to seek a solution to the situation.
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