National dependent care system to come on stream in early 2007

Download article in original language : ES0601205FES.DOC

In late 2005, the draft bill aimed at establishing a national dependent care system was approved. The system, which will establish a publicly funded care service for dependent persons, is expected to come into operation from 2007 onwards. The bill also attempts to address domestic inequalities that affect some socially disadvantaged groups, including women, on the Spanish labour market. Furthermore, the new law could potentially lead to employment creation and stimulate public and private investment. Already, it has generated substantial expectations regarding its potential contribution to the Spanish economy.

On 23 December 2005, the Council of Ministers approved the draft bill on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Dependent Care ('Ley de Promoción de la Autonomía Personal y Atención a las Personas Dependientes'), based on an agreement reached a few days before, between the leaders of the trade unions – Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CCOO) and the General Workers’ Confederation (Unión General de Trabajadores, UGT) – the employer organisations – the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organisations (Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales, CEOE) and the Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Confederación Española de la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa, CEPYME) – and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales, MTAS).

The law governing the national dependent care system (sistema nacional de dependencia) will not come into force until 2007 and will be introduced gradually. The government has described it as the regulation of a new right of citizenship involving the creation of a fourth pillar of the welfare state (the other three being health, education and pensions).

Provisions of the new law

It is aimed at the 1,125,190 Spaniards who are unable to look after themselves, a figure that is expected to rise to 1,496,226 by 2020. The benefits will be available to all Spaniards over the age of three who need help in their basic tasks and who have lived in Spain for more than five years (two of these must be immediately prior to the date on which they apply for the benefits). The benefits will also be available to immigrants who have been residing and working in Spain for some time, but not to retired persons from the European Union, unless their countries of origin pay for the services. Measures that will favour dependent Spaniards who live abroad are also in the pipeline.

The law provides such services as day centres, night centres, telecare, home help, admission to homes, adaptation of dwellings and technical assistance. These services will be provided mainly in public or government-supported centres; if access to these is impossible, the use of private centres will be funded. Under exceptional circumstances, the government will pay a grant to allow dependent persons to receive care at home. In this case, the main carer must be registered in the social security system.

In order to receive the benefits, the dependent persons must apply to the autonomous community in which they live for recognition of their dependent status. An evaluation body will determine the applicant’s degree of dependence (moderate, severe or great). Recognition will entitle the applicants to an individual care programme that will determine which services they require.

In 2015, when the national dependent care system ( sistema nacional de dependencia) is fully operational, the cost will come to 9 billion euro a year, or 1% of GDP. Between 30%–35% of the cost will be paid by the users depending on their income and assets; the rest will be paid by the government and the autonomous communities in equal parts. Regional and local authorities may use their own funds to extend the benefits offered. The system will be introduced gradually, priority being given to elderly persons and those with greater degrees of dependence. In 2007 the expenditure will be 400 million euro, rising to 2.212 billion euro in 2015. The government has stated that the money used to fund the system will come out of the state budget ('Presupuestos Generales del Estado') rather than from the social security surplus or higher taxes.

A Regional Council of the national dependent care system (Consejo Territorial del sistema nacional de dependencia), comprising the government and the autonomous communities, will act as the controlling body, responsible for establishing the criteria of income and assets, the benefit to be paid to the main carers, the scales of dependence and the agreements with the regional authorities. The social partners and the local authorities will form part of the Advisory Council (Consejo Consultivo), the National Disability Council (Consejo Nacional de Discapacidad) and the State Council for the Elderly (Consejo Estatal de Mayores).

Addressing gender inequalities

The introduction of the national dependent care system will mark a radical change in the way care is delivered to elderly or disabled persons who are unable to look after themselves. Until now, only 3% of the social services provided to these persons have been provided by the government. Dependent care is mainly the responsibility of families, particularly of women. According to the 'White Paper on dependent care', 83% of the carers of dependent persons are women with an average age of 53, of whom 75% are not in paid employment.

The social partners and representatives of the feminist movement had been lobbying for years for a dependent care law that would both provide better care for those who need it, and balance the inequalities between men and women in the home and in the labour market. According to the Survey of the Active Population ('Encuesta de Población Activa', EPA), in the third quarter of 2005 the participation rate of men and women was 69.04% and 46.31%, respectively. The unemployment rates were 6.49% and 11.19%, respectively.

Since the 1970s, several proposals, such as those for time-use budgets, sought to quantify and make visible the contribution of housework to catering to the needs of dependent persons. The 'World Conference on Women' held in Beijing in 1995 proposed that unpaid work be included in national accounting, by means of satellite accounts. In the Spanish case, the first such measurements were made by the Catalan and Basque authorities, followed by other autonomous communities and the government. In 2001, the Catalan Women’s Institute (Institut Català de la Dona) calculated that the Catalan 'GDP' would increase by 66% if housework was incorporated. According to a study by the Women’s Institute (Instituto de la Mujer) from May 2005, women devote 111% more time to housework, 56% more time to child care and 81% more time to caring for elderly dependent persons than men, and 56% of them have serious difficulties in reconciling their work and family life.

Viewpoints of the social partners

The representatives of the trade unions and employers are very optimistic about the job creation potential of the national dependent care system. The White Paper on dependent care estimates that 263,000 jobs will be created just in provision of services, apart from the 96,458 jobs that will be created when citizens caring for relatives are freed of certain burdens. A less optimistic estimate mentioned in the White Paper is that between 160,000 and 174,000 jobs will be created in addition to the jobs generated by the construction of homes (a potential figure of 20,000–30,000 jobs a year between 2005 and 2010). This construction project will require an investment of 10.2 million euro.

The government expenditure is expected to boost the Spanish economy and so allow the investment to be recovered. First, 300,000–400,000 main carers will receive benefits and contribute to the social security system. Furthermore, in 2010 it is expected that the Spanish GDP will be 1.56% greater than if the system had not been introduced, which will represent a cumulative growth rate of 0.28 percentage points. The government estimates that the total income from taxes and contributions will cover almost 75% of the expenditure entailed in implementing the national dependent care system.

The employer organisations and trade unions are happy with their level of participation in drawing up the agreement on which the draft bill was based. The UGT has been calling for the specific protection of dependent persons since 1998. CCOO is pleased that the 14 points that it put forward as essential for drawing up the bill have been accepted, as has its proposal that a formula similar to that used in 1986 for the General Health Law ('Ley General de Sanidad) be adopted, ' thus creating a national dependent care system. The majority trade unions also stated that budgetary and legislative tools were required if the system were to meet the expectations that have been created, and that the quality of those jobs created must be monitored.

Commentary

After years in which social protection in Spain has suffered more setbacks than it has made progress (the last significant measure dates from 1990, with the establishment of non-contributory pensions), the draft bill passed in late 2005 opens the possibility of realising the goal laid down in the Toledo Pact ('Pacto de Toledo') (1995) and the Agreement to Improve Pensions ('Acuerdo de Mejora de las Pensiones') (2001) of extending the protection of the welfare state to dependent persons. As with the Law on Reconciliation of Work and Family Life ('Ley de Conciliación de la Vida Laboral y Familiar') of 1999, the draft bill deals with the social inequalities generated by the gender division of work that persists in Spanish society, targeting its measures at some of the non-labour aspects of the subordinate position of women in the labour market and at home. These are positive measures aimed at improving the welfare of dependent persons and generating greater equality between men and women. However, real gender equality has not yet been achieved, because the habits and customs of Spanish society continue to build new gender differences to replace those that have been partially overcome. A high-quality national dependent care system may be the ideal arena for dealing with the inequalities generated by the creation of new gender differences – for instance, in the case of companies that provide few opportunities for persons who do not conform to established norms, either because they have some degree of dependence or have to care for dependent persons. The national dependent care system is also a major source of employment with the potential to stimulate public and private investment, making it very important to the economic and social development of Spain. Looking ahead, the system will need to show that it can meet the expectations that it has generated. (Pablo Meseguer Gancedo, CIREM Foundation).