The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, and the representatives of the island councils of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura have signed the new Dependency agreements this Thursday, which include a total investment of 1.63 billion euros for the entire archipelago over four years, of which 726 million euros are allocated to these three islands between 2025 and 2028.
Clavijo highlighted during the event that these new agreements will allow "to continue advancing in the improvement of the service" achieved during this legislature. In this regard, the head of the regional government announced that the archipelago has already managed to reduce the waiting time to obtain dependency aid in the Canary Islands by one year, which demonstrates the Executive's "firm commitment" to caring for the most vulnerable people.Specifically, at the end of 2025, the Canary Islands resolved the recognition of dependency aid in an **average time of 14 months**, compared to the 26 months it took to complete this procedure at the beginning of the legislature, according to data from the official IMSERSO registry.
Furthermore, as of December 31, 2025, there are 68,259 people with recognized rights in the Canary Islands Dependency System, compared to the 44,506 that existed in July 2023. This represents an increase of 23,753 people in the system, while only 13,000 were incorporated during the entire previous legislative term. If the pace of incorporations is compared, the progress is even more significant: while an average of 271 people were incorporated per month in the previous legislative term, in the current one, the figure rises to 848, which represents a 213% increase in the monthly pace of access to the system.
The progress made by the Government is also relevant in the area of benefits, where 65,832 people have been granted aid, compared to the 38,957 at the beginning of the current legislature. The increase is 26,875 people, equivalent to a 68.99% rise.
For President Fernando Clavijo, these figures are encouraging and reflect constant work, the turning point of which was achieved with the approval and implementation of the new decree regulating the single-phase valuation system, as he emphasized during the signing of the dependency agreements with the representatives of the island councils of the province of Las Palmas.In his opinion, "the signing of these new agreements ratifies this Government's commitment to the most vulnerable people, through interinstitutional agreements that have been difficult to achieve, but which once again reaffirm the idea that administrations must sit down to negotiate and reach agreements so that these translate into improved citizen services."
Institutional Coordination
Clavijo, accompanied by the Minister of Social Welfare, Candelaria Delgado, and the Minister of Health, Esther Monzón, signed these agreements with the president of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales; the president of Fuerteventura, Lola García; and the Minister of Social Welfare and Inclusion of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Marci Acuña.
During the event, the head of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria stated that the implementation of the new Dependency agreement was "absolutely necessary and important" to improve the response of all the archipelago's institutions to those most in need. "Today we take an important step to guarantee the places for four years and their funding," Morales indicated
The president of the Cabildo of Fuerteventura also highlighted that the agreement with the Government of the Canary Islands provides "a boost" to her legislative commitment to advance in improving care for "those who need it most." Lola García considered the commitment of the autonomous Executive, the island councils, and the town councils to address social needs "through co-governance" to be key.
For their part, the Minister of Social Welfare and Inclusion of the Cabildo de Lanzarote stated that the new Dependency agreements respond to the "need" to reinforce the work of institutions with the most vulnerable people, a task in which institutional coordination with citizens will be key to social management.
Updated costs
The agreements signed this Thursday and those to be signed tomorrow, Friday, with the island councils of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife allocate more than 1.63 billion over four years—from January 1, 2025, retroactively until 2028—to cover the costs of services for people with dependency or disability
Of this amount, 726 million euros are to guarantee resources for 4,955 care places - both residential and day care - in Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Fuerteventura, in addition to other key services for the quality of the dependency and disability system
The agreements finance the management of day care and residential center spots, as well as other services such as Personal Assistance. Additionally, they include the possibility of automatic increases based on parameters like the CPI, or the inclusion of new spots for financing through addenda.
Funding in Gran Canaria amounts to 615,280,614.03 euros, of which the Autonomous Community assumes 70.48% and the remainder corresponds to the island council. It will finance services and a total of 4,328 places (2,444 day centers and 1,884 residential), 722 of them newly created in 2025
The amount of the multi-year agreement in Fuerteventura amounts to 35,730,311.81, with the regional government assuming 74.12% and the Cabildo assuming 25.88% to finance services and a total of 308 places (162 daytime-146 residential), 31 of which are newly created in 2025
Regarding Lanzarote, the total amount of the agreement contemplates an investment of 75,714,745 euros, of which the Cabildo contributes 30.39% for a total of 647 places (328 daytime-319 residential).
Improvements in the legislature
The Canary Islands Government considers that these new agreements will serve to strengthen and improve the progress in Dependency that official data already shows. As of December 31, 2025, 2,427 people have a recognized degree but do not have a PIA, meaning they have the right to receive a benefit but it has not been administratively granted. Since the decree came into effect, this limbo has been reduced by less than half. IMSERSO data indicates that the Canary Islands have reduced this group of people by 67.54%, which represents 5,051 people.
This limbo, in fact, was a consequence of the incorporation into the system of more than 8,000 applications that had not been recorded at the beginning of the legislature. "The intense work of this team has managed not only to absorb the new additions but also the obligations left pending by the previous one," they point outFor the regional Executive, another obstacle remains to be resolved: that of people with granted benefits who have not made them effective for reasons not attributable to the administration, which as of December 31 is 17,130 people. For all these cases, the Government of the Canary Islands has put out to tender the specialized home help service, which will facilitate their care, and is already preparing the new Infrastructure Plan, which will provide the Canary Islands with new residential places to meet existing demand.