At a press conference held in Chengdu on September 29 by the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress, relevant departments briefed the public on the recently adopted Sichuan Province Elderly Care Service Regulations (hereafter referred to as the Regulations).
The Regulations comprise 7 chapters and 78 articles, covering the elderly care service network, service provision, support and safeguards, and supervision and management, providing a solid legal foundation for seniors in Sichuan to receive care, support, enjoyment, and security in their later years. The Regulations will take effect on December 1, 2026.
Building a Three-Tier Elderly Care Service Network Covering Both Urban and Rural Areas
A sound system of seniority allowances, elderly care service subsidies, and nursing care subsidies will be established. Sichuan is a populous province, with its elderly population ranking third in the nation. As of the end of 2025, the province had 21.5 million people aged 60 and above, facing an unprecedentedly severe aging situation.
"The introduction of the Regulations will better meet the multi-level and diverse elderly care service needs of our province's seniors," said Xu Hong, deputy director of the Social Committee of the Provincial People's Congress, at the press conference. As the province's population aging deepens, problems such as imbalanced supply and demand for elderly care services, incomplete support policies, insufficient talent support, lack of market vitality, and inadequate regulatory mechanisms urgently need to be addressed through local legislation to promote the healthy and orderly development of elderly care services.
Yang He, deputy director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee, introduced the contents of the Regulations. The Regulations specify that local governments at or above the county level should establish a three-tier elderly care service network covering both urban and rural areas, build county-level comprehensive elderly care service management platforms, strengthen the construction of township (subdistrict) regional elderly care service centers, and set up village (community) elderly care service facility sites according to local conditions.
Embedded community elderly care services will be developed. New residential projects' supporting elderly care service facilities will be subject to simultaneous planning, construction, acceptance, and delivery, with clear requirements for handover and property rights registration; old urban areas and already-built residential areas will fill gaps in facilities through new construction, renovation, purchase, exchange, and leasing. Rural collective economic organizations with the capacity are encouraged to use part of their collective economic income for elderly care services for seniors in their villages, establishing an urban-rural elderly care service collaboration mechanism to promote balanced development of elderly care services across urban and rural areas.
Elderly care service provision will be optimized, ensuring that services follow wherever seniors' needs arise. The Regulations strengthen basic elderly care services with a focus on care for disabled and cognitively impaired seniors, improving the basic elderly care service list system and the comprehensive assessment system for seniors' capabilities. Family support for elderly care will be strengthened, with improved mechanisms for home-based care, age-friendly home renovations, family elderly care beds, and visitation and care. Services such as meal assistance, bathing assistance, daytime care, short-term respite care, rental of rehabilitation assistive devices, and community elderly care consultants will be developed. The integration of medical care and elderly care will be deepened, promoting the coordinated development of medical health and elderly care services.
Additionally, the Regulations make provisions for facility land use, fiscal investment, talent teams, finance and insurance, tax incentives, and information platforms. They clearly incorporate basic elderly care services into the government's guiding catalog for purchased services, and establish a sound system of seniority allowances, elderly care service subsidies, and nursing care subsidies.
Further Promoting Alignment Between Elderly Care Service Supply and Demand
Innovative service models such as "property management plus elderly care" and "domestic services plus elderly care" will be introduced. Elderly care services concern every household. In response to the urgent needs and concerns of seniors, what specific measures will various localities in the province roll out to ensure the implementation of the Regulations' various initiatives?
At the press conference, Li Liang, deputy director of the Sichuan Provincial Department of Civil Affairs, which serves as the competent department for the elderly care service industry, provided the answer. Li Liang stated that the province will comprehensively advance the construction of county-level comprehensive elderly care service management platforms, fill gaps in township (subdistrict) regional elderly care service centers and village (community) elderly care service facility sites, and weave a dense county-level elderly care service facility network.
In terms of service provision, the classification reform of elderly care institutions into basic, inclusive, and fully market-oriented categories will be strengthened, the coordination mechanism for integrating medical care and elderly care will be improved, the dynamic adjustment and evaluation mechanism for the basic elderly care service list will be refined, and innovative service models such as "property management plus elderly care" and "domestic services plus elderly care" will be introduced to further promote alignment between elderly care service supply and demand.
In terms of the elderly care industry, the role of the collaborative promotion mechanism for key industry chains in the silver economy will be leveraged, research and development and promotion of products for seniors will be strengthened, and specialized, chain-operated, and branded elderly care service market entities will be cultivated to meet the diverse and multi-level elderly care service needs of seniors.
In terms of safeguards and support, the province will continue to implement the "Shu Yang Talent Cultivation Project," improve the career conversion channels between skilled personnel and professional technical personnel, and promote the establishment of long-term systems for entry subsidies for elderly care workers and rewards for skill level certification. Funding for basic elderly care services will be strengthened, the dynamic adjustment mechanism for subsistence allowances for extremely impoverished persons and seniority allowances will be improved, and welfare lottery public welfare funds will be well utilized.
In terms of strengthening comprehensive supervision of elderly care services, the province will conduct regular inspections and rectification of existing safety risks and hazards in elderly care institutions, and strengthen oversight of the elderly care industry. The system for sharing information on violations and prohibitions on employment for practitioners will be improved, the cross-departmental collaborative governance mechanism for financial consumption involving seniors will be refined, and greater efforts will be made to protect the lawful rights and interests of elderly consumers.