1. Robert Anderson EUROFOUND President, Eurocarers
COFACE Seminar Dependent persons in the European Union: who cares about family carers? Sofia, 20 October 2009
Robert Anderson
EUROFOUND
President, Eurocarers
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2. Informal carers: key relationships
People with disabilities
Informal Formal
Carers providers
Family
Employment
Government
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3. Human resources for care
Formal providers + Informal carers – should be coordinated and mutually supportive – high commitment to care.
Dominance of family and informal care in most Member States eg. UK (Public Accounts Committee, Sept 2009): 6 million unpaid carers provide care worth an estimated £23 billion p.a. – And receive benefits worth £2bn p.a.; EU – 80% of care hours are provided by informal care (Background Paper)
But concerns (eg in the 2009 Communication on Alzheimer's disease) about shortages of carers, lack of support for informal carers, and risk of social exclusion for carers.
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4. High levels of informal care-giving
‘Extra family responsibilities because they look after
someone who has a long-term illness, who is
handicapped or elderly’
1 in 4 in NMS10 and CC3
1 in 5 in EU15
Care is predominantly to family members,
especially in NMS
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5. Caring and working
Around half of carers under 65 combine care with employment
10% to 15% of employees are providing eldercare, especially older (female) workers
But among those with eldercare responsibilities only half of women but 9 out of 10 men (are able to) work full-time
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6. Impacts on employment Career development and promotion
Financial disadvantage
Access to training and skills development
Stress, sickness and absenteeism
Foundation research: 25% of female carers and 15%
of male carers reported that care limited their
employment opportunities
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7. Carers in the EU policy debate
Role and contribution of family carers begins to be visible
Recruiting and retaining an adequately qualified and skilled care workforce
Training and social protection for both formal and informal carers
Measures to reconcile employment with family care
Sustainability and quality of the care workforce
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8. Public policy measures to support family care
Information and awareness raising
Cash benefits to informal caregivers
Provision of training courses
Availability of respite services
Social security contributions eg pensions
Greater flexibility in packaging of care services
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9. Measures in the workplace to support carers
Policies: work organisation, working time, homeworking
Services: information, development of community services
Benefits: insurance, leave entitlements
Support: from colleagues and managers
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10. Flexible time arrangements
Flexible working time arrangements are in operation in almost half (48%) of companies with 10 or more employees in Europe.
A larger proportion of companies in the services sector (50%) than in industry (43%) report the existence of some form of flexibility.
The two main reasons cited by managers (and workers) for introducing flexible working arrangements were ‘enabling employees to better combine work and family (or personal) life’ (68%) and ‘better adaptation of working hours to the establishment’s workload’ (47%).
ECS, 2005
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11. Availability of long-term leave options, public and private sector (%)
Source: EWST, (21 countries)
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12. Future for family care depends in part on future for formal care
But:
Workforce is ageing
Relatively high levels of reported stress
Labour supply bottlenecks and staff shortages
Recruitment and integration of workers from other countries
“…the quality of service depends to a large extent on the motivation and the quality of the personnel.”
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13. Measures to improve image and attractiveness of care work
Promote public debate on societal significance of care
Emphasise meaningful work and job enrichment
Enable flexible employment and work-life balance
Opportunities to gain qualifications through training
Increase rates of pay
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14. Some issues for further development in EU
Responding to the reconciliation of employment with care for dependent adults/older people
Ensuring that leave and flexible working arrangements are available to all groups of workers
Increasing availability and affordability of care services for both children and dependent older people – more focus on labour supply in care services
Recognising important variations between countries in both problems and preferences
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15. Strengthening co-operation in the EU
Promote awareness and debate on care and its importance in the European model of society – Research, Health programmes.
Use structural funds (specially Social Fund) for training of both formal and informal carers.
Protect employment and promote equal opportunities for carers in employment – role for social partners as well as Employment policy
Protect the rights of carers and provide support to organisations representing interest of carers eg through PROGRESS programme.
Use the OMC for Social Protection to share best practice on how to optimise support for informal carers.
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16. Eurocarers European non-governmental association working for carers
Established 2005 – members are representatives from
carers’ organisations and research groups
Aims:
To represent and provide a voice for carers in the EU
To advance informal care
To improve the personal, economic and social situation of carers
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17. Eurocarers represents:
Carers for people of all ages, not only older people
Carers of all ages and not only family carers, thus including friends, neighbours, volunteers
Carers of people with psychological as well as physical disabilities (although this is often a false distinction)
Carers who are essentially unpaid, although they may receive dedicated social security benefits, but they do not have an employment contract
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18. Eurocarers – Current priorities
The contribution of unpaid carers – the role that carers
play and its importance to our societies
Income and the impact of caring
– on the economic situation of carers and their families as well as the benefits to the state
– reconciling employment with care responsibilities
Access to and availability of effective support – the
right to respite care or leave; assistive technologies;
high quality care services
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