Ibiza awards €13.5M contract for 32 unaccompanied minors

Ibiza pays €105,500 a year for each of the 32 fostered minors

The Ibiza Island Council has awarded a public contract worth €13.5 million to the Fundación SAMU to care for 32 unaccompanied foreign minors over four years. The deal, announced alongside the official award notice, averages out to more than €100,000 per place per year, or roughly €289 per day per minor, according to calculations circulating on social media. This figure has highlighted the real cost of the reception network and who benefits from these funds.

Contract details and cost per place

The contract covers four fiscal years and 32 places. The math is simple: €13.5 million divided by 32 minors over four years equals €105,500 per minor per year. That’s €289 a day. For comparison, the same material notes that a nursing home costs around €100 daily with strict staffing requirements, while prison inmate costs are about €2,300 per month. Those who performed the calculation argue the difference isn’t due to care quality, but rather the margin retained by the contracting entity.

Some go further, comparing it to elite British boarding schools: between £65,000 and £70,000 a year for accommodation, food, education, and sports. By this standard, paying over €100,000 per place seems, at the very least, striking.

The business of reception: who profits from minors?

The most repeated thesis is that migrant minor care has become an economic sector with clear beneficiaries: foundations, NGOs, and service companies signing public contracts without real competition. It is argued that money doesn’t reach the minors but is distributed among structure, intermediaries, and overheads. The uncomfortable conclusion: if the business works, no one has an incentive to close it.

In contrast, another viewpoint reminds us that legal protocols exist and that minors who can be returned to their families are indeed returned. Those who stay do so because there is no legal alternative. Caring for them is not optional; it is mandatory. Criticism, in any case, targets management and excessive costs, not the existence of the service itself.

Returning them to Segarro: the cost no one calculates

The most proposed solution in the material is deportation. The circulating calculation suggests that returning a minor to their country would cost €200 or less, compared to the €105,500 annual maintenance cost. With €3.2 million, thousands of returns could be funded, they argue. The objection is that return isn’t just a plane ticket: it requires reports from countries of origin, contact with parents, and legal guarantees. When safe return is possible, it is already being done.

Political background: PP, PSOE, and fund distribution

The contract is signed by the Ibiza Island Council, governed by the PP (People's Party), which undermines the argument that this is solely one party's issue. The accusation running through the material is that both the PP and the PSOE participate in the system and that their affiliated structures benefit from the funds. Therefore, it is concluded, no one stops it.

The dimension missing from the contract

Beyond direct costs, the material points to a cumulative impact: the healthcare, educational, and security spending** generated by each place throughout the minor's life. Calculations cited from other European countries speak of a net negative contribution of hundreds of thousands of euros per person. Thus, the discussion isn't just about how much the contract costs, but how much the model costs.

The open question

If the actual cost of care is a fraction of what is paid, and if safe return is legally viable in some cases, why does the system continue awarding €13.5 million for 32 places without any administration auditing the cost structure? Based on the data, the answer is not in the contract.