More than 13,000 people have turned for help to the public defender in 2020, according to data provided by Ombudsman Diana Kovacheva. The statistics also show that 23,865 people have filed claims through collective complaints and petitions.

The highest number of people complained of the poor quality of water supply service and the high and incomprehensible bills of the central heating companies – nearly 2000 out of a total of 3289 complaints were received in the consumer rights sector.

Immediately after rank those persons who wrote to the Ombudsman due to problems in the field of social rights, education and health – 2,926 citizens.

One group is comprised mostly of persons who have been registered as unemployed in the Labour Office directorates and received monetary compensation for a certain period. After the expiry of this period during the state of emergency, in which they have failed to find a job on the labour market, they find themselves in a situation where they are not entitled to either monetary compensation or social support, the institution writes.

Other categories of persons are parents of young children – mainly up to the age of 12, who are unilaterally granted paid leave by their employers, or they have requested and taken paid or unpaid leave to be able to look after their children due to school and kindergarten closures. After exhaustion of paid annual leave, they are left with no alternative to earn income during the state of emergency.