Bulgaria is set to merge its 28 regional social welfare offices into fewer, larger units, labour and social policy minister Natalia Efremova told MPs at a hearing in parliament's labour and social policy committee. The review of the Social Assistance Agency's structure is not yet finished.

The agency runs both regional and local "social assistance" directorates. In merging them, the ministry will look at population size, how many cases each office handles and how many applications it processes, to spread the workload more evenly. Efremova said the ministry is also weighing proposals from the regional directors themselves.

"The way specific services are delivered will not be affected in any way," she said. The change will happen gradually, and digital tools will stop any hold-ups in service.

"No one will lose their job, because we're not planning any cuts to filled posts," Efremova said, adding that she had reassured the directorates' heads on this point.

The regional directorates will get extra staff for their child protection departments. The minister said child protection is one of the agency's priorities, with the aim of cutting the number of child abuse cases.

The ministry is reviewing its agencies in two stages. The first is already under way: vacant posts are being cut, and staff who have reached retirement age and qualify for a pension are being let go gradually. At the same time, the ministry is checking what each department does, both within its own structure and across the agencies it funds.

Updated (30.09, 17:12): Social affairs minister Efremova said the government is discussing cutting the number of regional social assistance offices to 13 or 15. She rejected outright plans to merge them into just 6 or 7.