Social Services are benefits that are included in the protective action of the Social Security System. Their purpose is to supplement financial benefits, while at the same time improving the living conditions of the beneficiaries, by reducing, insofar as is possible, the personal constraints that are caused by age or disability.

This protective action is extended and supplemented by a public system of benefits and care services for people in situations of dependency (those people who for reasons of age, illness or disability require care from others or help to perform activities of daily living), which are provided via the social services network of the Autonomous Communities. 

Management of social services is attributed to the competent bodies of each Autonomous Region and to the Provincial Directorates of the Institute of Social Services and the Elderly (IMSERSO) in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla.