The Eurocarers’ Policy Working Group met in Bilbao
On Thursday 23rd and Friday 24th April, the Eurocarers’ Policy Working Group convened in Bilbao, kindly co-hosted by our member Grupo SSI, a cooperative organisation active in the social field. This year’s face-to-face meeting focused primarily on crucial issues concerning work-life-care balance and flexibility for informal carers across Europe.
It is valuable to have this opportunity for members to come together in person to share policy and advocacy updates from their organisations, which can serve as inspiration for others facing similar concerns in their own countries. For example, we had updates from Kate Hamblin from the Centre for Care UK, Anita Vatland from the Norwegian Alliance for Informal Carers, and the Eurocarers’ Secretariat on key EU developments. Members came away with renewed connections with determined individuals working to support informal carers across Europe and we look forward to meeting again soon.
Our focus on work-life-care balance centred around critically reflecting on the EU Work-Life balance directive, four years after the deadline for countries to embed it into national law. Members shared insights on how the Directive has been transposed in their countries, examined whether new rights on paper have led to meaningful impact in practice, and identified key areas where we need to push for stronger, more impactful rights for informal carers. We worked together to hone our shared advocacy objectives, with Professor Sue Yeandle providing food for thought by sharing key insights on the role that carers’ organisations can play in campaigning for work-life-care balance and John Perryman from Carers UK sharing a case study of advocacy work on carers’ leaves in the UK.
We were thrilled to also have the opportunity to see first-hand the innovative initiatives and policies actively supporting informal carers in Bilbao and the Basque country. We heard from policy makers from different levels: Bilbao City Council and the Provincial Council of Bizkaia on support services for informal carers, and the Spanish Ministry of Social Rights on access to family leaves and flexible work arrangements. We explored many inspiring programmes and support services such as MENTSAD (training programme for family carers), Zaintzea (the municipal support centre for family carers), Urrats (a support service providing companionship and accompaniment to complement the home care service), and OKencasa (a digital solution to improving the quality of life of informal carers). We concluded our morning of presentations by seeing the Zaintzea municipal support centre for family carers in action.
Many thanks to our hosts at Grupo SSI and for all members online and in person for making this meeting a success.
