Change in European care arrangements

Geißler, Birgit; Pfau‐Effinger, Birgit

doi:10.46692/9781847421340.002

Cited by 12 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…To interpret this change as deleting familyrelated rights and restricting social rights to those resulting from individual labour market participation only (the so-called adult worker model, Lewis 2004) would fall short of explaining the development. Familyrelated rights have not only been reduced; on the contrary, it has been shown that family-related rights have increased in many countries (Geissler & Pfau-Effinger, 2005;Knijn & Kremer, 1997), as have the resources attributed to them (Ferragina & Seeleib-Kaiser, 2014). In fact, I showed elsewhere that family-related rights have not simply been reduced, but instead robustly transformed from formerly derived rights into rights based on family care and granted to the caregiving individuals in the family (Frericks, 2013).…”

Section: State Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Conceptually, they have not been adequately grasped as an implicit part of social rights related to family, and still await empirical investigation now that family care is developing into a form of semi-recognised, semi-insured, i.e. semiformal work (Geissler & Pfau-Effinger, 2005) accompanied by a shift in the direction of entitlements from the family to the individual (Frericks 2013). This study contributes to this special issue on care for older people by addressing the question in how far long-term care work by family members is covered in the social rights of European welfare states (for childcare work by family members, see Frericks, 2022, andFrericks et al, 2008).…”

Section: State Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Family-provided long-term care and its coverage in European pension systems

Frericks¹

2023

JFamRes

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Objective: In this contribution, the question is raised in how far family care work is covered in the social rights of European welfare states, focussing on pension entitlements for family-provided long-term care. Background: Old-age pensions are the major redistributive system of present-day societies. Central to current discourses on pensions and their reforms is the relevance of work as paid employment for building up pension rights. Family care work is largely disregarded, although established welfare states broadly cover also this work form in their pension systems. Method: By applying the SCQual method, this article systematically quantifies current pension entitlements for family-provided long-term care in ten European countries, and their change. It reflects on the results by means of testing assumptions drawn from the most relevant research strands in the field and contributes to contextualising cross-national variation and change. Results: The results show that pension entitlements for family-provided long-term care are found in most of our study countries, and that all the assumptions deduced from the literature, with regard to both cross-national variation and change in entitlements, are refuted by the empirical findings. Conclusion: This study contributes to both the conceptual challenges of comparative welfare state research in general, and the concrete analysis of social rights entitlements. These are based not only on paid employment, but in most European countries also on family care work, as has been shown here. The conceptual differences and changes are fruitfully addressed in this contribution.

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Section: State Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: State Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Family-provided long-term care and its coverage in European pension systems

Frericks¹

2023

JFamRes

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“…While most European welfare states have addressed the social risks of family carers of older, care-dependent relatives, there are substantial differences in terms of the amount of pay and further forms of support, such as social benefits for care provision, training, respite care, care leaves, or social security rights (Bettio & Plantenga, 2004;Bouget et al, 2016;Courtin et al, 2014;Eggers et al 2020;Frericks et al, 2014;Le Bihan et al, 2019a). According to Geissler and Pfau-Effinger (2005), these policies that introduced, for example 'cash-for-care' schemes or pension rights for full-time family carers, have blurred the distinction between formal and informal types of care work. They created 'semi-formal' types of care work, as the features of family care are no longer entirely distinct from formal care work in the employment system.…”

Section: State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, family care remains a common form of care provision in many European welfare states, with great cross-national variation in the share of older people (65 years of age and older) who receive it (Spasova et al, 2018). However, the main features of family care have changed substantially as several European welfare states addressed some of the social risks associated with family care by introducing care policies that offer elements of pay, care leaves and social security rights for family carers, beginning in the 1990s (Courtin et al, 2014;Eggers et al 2020;Geissler & Pfau-Effinger, 2005;Le Bihan et al, 2019a;Ungerson & Yeandle, 2007). It is commonly assumed that welfare states support family care as a cheap substitute for the more costintensive extra-familial care services and hardly to an extent that helps covering the main social risks associated with family care provision (Deusdad et al, 2016;Kodate & Timonen, 2017;Ranci & Pavolini, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social risks of family carers in the context of welfare state policies

Eggers

Grages

2023

JFamRes

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Objective: To determine how European care policies for older people differ in terms of their potential social risks to family carers, as well as the extent to which these differences can be explained by different types of welfare and care regime. Background: It is often assumed that welfare state support for family care entails high social risks to the carer, such as loss of employment income and social security rights. This paper challenges these assumptions and argues that care policies that generously support family carers might also alleviate some of the social risks related to family care. Method: This paper introduces an innovative approach to systematically measuring the generosity of policies that support family carers, and it theorises how these policies connect to family carers' social risks. It then applies this approach to a comparative study of five European welfare states based on analyses of these countries’ care policy documents, standardised policy reports by national experts and data from comparative social policy databases. Results: The findings reveal large cross-national differences in care policy design, which is only in some cases able to significantly mitigate social risks for family carers. Furthermore, these cross-national differences only partly correspond with assumptions based on welfare and care regime affiliation according to classic typologies. Conclusion: The paper sheds new light on the ways in which welfare states design their policies towards family carers, and on the extent to which these policies are associated with social risks.

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“…248–249). We can now list three existing forms of care work: (a) informal and unpaid care work performed by families at homes (representing the global majority of care work), (b) formal and paid professional care performed at institutions (such as hospitals, nursing services or educational institutions), and (c) semi-formal forms of care work performed in an employment gray zone between informal and formal care in private households or institutions (Geissler and Pfau-Effinger, 2005). The study deals with voluntary care work as a special kind of semi-informal care work.…”

Section: Introduction: Voluntary Care As Decent Care?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The rationality of voluntary care work: light and shadow of volunteering in Germany's care sector

Haubner

2022

IJSSP

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PurposeIn the context of a care crisis in Germany, care work done by volunteers is increasingly being semi-formalized by the state and used in professional care work contexts to relieve families and professionals. However, voluntary care has not yet been adequately studied from a care-specific perspective. This study examines in what way voluntary care can be considered decent care from a care-ethical and empirical perspective.Design/methodology/approachConsidering findings of a qualitative interview study, the study examines the special features of voluntary care, addresses its socio-political expansion, and asks about the decency of voluntary care in elder care and social work.FindingsCare work done by volunteers is a special kind of care work, which has advantages but also disadvantages regarding care-ethical requirements of decent care. The study examines under which conditions voluntary care violates these requirements and how this can be countered in socio-political terms.Originality/valueVoluntary care is an under-researched phenomenon despite its increasing socio-political importance. While its state-led expansion can informalize and deprofessionalize care work at the expense of users, professionals, and volunteers, its analysis can help to illuminate the preconditions for decent care.

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Change in European care arrangements

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Family-provided long-term care and its coverage in European pension systems

Family-provided long-term care and its coverage in European pension systems

Social risks of family carers in the context of welfare state policies

The rationality of voluntary care work: light and shadow of volunteering in Germany's care sector

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