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Last week we spoke at the Commission conference on “Exploiting the employment potential of personal and household services”. This event follows the consultation on personal and household services, which are defined by the Commission as a wide range of activities that contribute to well-being at home of families and individuals, such as childcare, long-term care for older people and persons with disabilities, cleaning, remedial classes, home repairs, gardening, ICT support etc. The aim of the initiative is to explore the employment potential of these services.

Michel Mercadié, Member of Social Platform Management Committee, highlighted that the Commission’s definition of personal and household services causes some problems. We recommend making a clear distinction between services provided at home for the comfort of people (cleaning, ironing, gardening etc.) and home care services. The latter in fact belong to the broader category of social services of general interest and require skilled or highly skilled professionals.

Of course the Commission’s initiative has positive aspects, because it contributes to the job creation in the sector of services to the person, it fights against undeclared work in the domestic sector and promotes the enjoyment of fundamental rights for domestic workers and domestic carers. In fact they can have access to social protection, pension, training and life-long learning opportunities, prevention of accidents at the work place. It should also give some guarantees to the users (such as declared work, prevention of accidents at the work place, right qualifications and skills of the domestic worker).

Besides these positive aspects, Michel Mercadié warned about possible drifts. To give an example, it has been estimated that in Germany, one of the wealthiest countries in Europe, about 770.000 retired people have a “mini-job”, because they can’t afford their living costs. Therefore it is crucial that public authorities, in cooperation with trade unions and other relevant stakeholders, provide the right legal framework and that this initiative is not left to the bilateral relationship between the domestic worker and the user or his and her family.

The second aspect that needs to be taken into account is the clash between this initiative (which is employment driven) and the logic of social policies. According to the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, users have the right of access to preventive healthcare and to services of general interest (which include social and care services). Therefore guaranteeing access to social and care services is a priority for member states; on the contrary supporting comfort services at home should not be a priority. In which EU countries is this model (based mainly on Belgian and French experiences) transferable? If one considers that in many member states essential public services, such as social and health services, are being cut in the frame of austerity policies, how is it possible to transfer this model to member states that are facing financial difficulties? This initiative is also not affordable to everyone, because the user has to pay for the service, even if he gets some support from the state. The European population is becoming increasingly poorer. To give an example: it has been estimated that in 2020 40% of Spanish people will live under the poverty line. If someone takes the whole picture into account, how can this initiative be transferred to the rest of the EU?
You can read Social Platform’s response to the consultation, as well as our Recommendations on care.