Everything the social workers demanded had already been granted, Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova said to journalists.

Maslarova said that the Council of Ministers accepted a decree in which the funds for support for social workers had been increased with 2.3 million leva.

According to Maslarova, 550 000 leva had been reserved for increasing the average salary of social workers.

These decisions would be confirmed in the Council of Ministers meeting on September 26, she said as quoted by Focus news agency.

Salaries of the workers in social homes were paid out of municipal means, Maslarova said, and the parliament had proposed to include lower qualified workers and pensioners working in the system to be included in employment programmes. Thus the government would be responsible for their minimal salaries.