Transcript Computer Based Training

COFACE Seminar
Dependent persons in the European
Union: who cares about family carers?
Sofia, 20 October 2009
Robert Anderson
EUROFOUND
President, Eurocarers
18/07/2015
1
Informal carers: key relationships
People with disabilities
Informal
Carers
Formal
providers
Family
Employment
18/07/2015
Government
2
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.
18/07/2015
3
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
18/07/2015
4
Caring and working



18/07/2015
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
5
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
18/07/2015
6
Carers in the EU policy debate





18/07/2015
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
7
Public policy measures to support family care






18/07/2015
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
8
Measures in the workplace
to support carers




18/07/2015
Policies: work organisation, working time,
homeworking
Services: information, development of community
services
Benefits: insurance, leave entitlements
Support: from colleagues and managers
9
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
18/07/2015
10
Availability of long-term leave options,
public and private sector (%)
Source: EWST, 2004-5 (21 countries)
18/07/2015
11
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.”
18/07/2015
12
Measures to improve image and
attractiveness of care work





18/07/2015
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
13
Some issues for further development in EU




18/07/2015
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
14
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.
18/07/2015
15
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
18/07/2015
16
Eurocarers represents:




18/07/2015
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
17
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
18/07/2015
18