The lack of detailed and comprehensive information on the universe of existing social facilities in the country led to the elaboration of a Study of Location of Social Equipment and Services in 1998, a study that would give body to the Social Charter.
The project had the collaboration of several entities, namely the Union of Private Institutions of Social Solidarity (UIPSS), the Union of Mercies, Municipalities, the Directorate General of Social Action (DGAS), the Regional Centres of Social Security (CRSS) and the Department of Studies, Foresight and Planning (DEPP-MTS) that carried out the survey of information on the ground of the Network of Social Services and Equipment, updating it in 2000 through face-to-face examination.
Given the costs of the process of surveying, analysing and processing the information collected, a new methodology for updating data was defined in 2002 with the support of a computer application developed by the Department of Studies, Statistics and Planning (DEEP-MTS), and accessed by the District Social Security Centres (CDSS), the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML) and subsequently by Casa Pia de Lisboa (CPL). With a defined periodicity, these entities collected the information, based on the forms prepared and sent by the DEPP, and launched the data in the computer application of the Social Charter.
In 2007, in a line of debureaucratization and process improvement, a new methodology for updating information was adopted, translated into a dynamic online process that allowed entities that develop social responses within the scope of the Network of Services and Equipment of the different networks (solidarity, profitable private and public), with access to the Internet, to access, through a password, directly the computer application of the Social Charter, regulated and managed by the Strategy and Planning Office (GEP-MTSS), and to launch and update their data.
In 2026, as part of the organisational and functional reform of the State Administration, Regulatory Decree No. º 1/2026 of 21 January restructured the Strategy and Planning Office (GEP) of the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security (MTSSS), which was renamed the Directorate-General for Coordination and Planning (DGCP).
As part of this reform, the powers relating to the Social Charter were transferred to the Directorate-General for Solidarity and Social Security (DGSSS), created by Decree-Law No º 81/2026 of 6 April, which restructured the previous Directorate-General for Social Security.
The implementation of the attribution of these competences to the DGSSS has now been materialised through Ministerial Implementing Order No º 286/2026/1 of 3 July, which formalises the integration of the competences of the Social Charter into the organisational structure of that Directorate-General.
The current methodology of updating the information of the Social Charter had as main assumptions to debureaucratize the process and reduce the administrative procedures, as well as the reduction of financial burden for the State.