The first paragraph of Article 100 of the Social Assistance Act stipulates that the entitled persons and other liable persons must pay for the institutional care; the entitled person can claim the exemption from the payment and the competent social work centre decides whether the person concerned is partly or fully exempt from the payment of service in accordance with criteria set by the Government in the Decree on criteria for determining exemption from the payment of social services.

The Decree sets:

• the social security limit, namely as the subsistence amount at the disposal of a beneficiary and his/her family members after the payment of contribution for rendered service
• ability to pay as the amount up to which a beneficiary or liable person is able to pay or contribute to the payment of service
• contribution to the payment as the amount that a beneficiary or liable person able to pay must pay to the service provider on the basis of a submitted invoice and
• exemption from the payment as the amount which a beneficiary or person liable cannot and need not pay because of his/her ability to pay as established in accordance with the criteria set in this Decree.

The exemption of a beneficiary is set as the difference between the price of the service and his/her contribution, while the exemption of a person liable is set as the difference between the amount of the exemption granted to a beneficiary and the contribution of the person liable.

Pursuant to the Decree, a liable person is a natural person who is not a family member but is bound to the beneficiary by a maintenance obligation under marriage and family relations regulations and other legal or natural person obliged to pay the costs of institutional care for a beneficiary under an enforceable instrument or legal transaction.

If a contribution made by a beneficiary and person/persons liable does not cover the costs, the balance between the price of service and contributions of the beneficiary and liable persons is paid by the local community or the Republic of Slovenia, subject to legal conditions.

A beneficiary and the persons liable can file an application for exemption from payment of social assistance with a competent social work centre (where the beneficiary has registered his/her permanent residence); based on their financial situations, the social work centre establishes the amount of the exemption and contributions to the payment of social assistance.