Carers and former carers in Italy Licia Boccaletti - London - May 2010

About us SOFIA is a social cooperative – its purpose is to work in the field of elderly care with the aim to offer, through a wide range of informative, social and health care services, a better quality of life for elderly people and their families.

About us SOFIA has taken part to several local, national and EU projects providing training and support to carers of elderly people: Aspasia Aspasia Carpi Anziani in Rete Life After Care

Elderly & their carers in Italy Between 3 and 3.5 million people in Italy provide care to a dependent relative. The age of the Italian older people cared for by the family carers is quite high (82 years on average). They mainly live at home, even alone when less dependent, while the more dependent ones live with others, in particular with their children and/or partners, in many cases also resorting to the help of cohabiting paid migrant carers (particularly for the most severely dependent elders).

Carers & work 17% of economically inactive women of working age and 13% of retired women in Italy consider that caring has had a significant negative impact on their professional status, resulting in failure to access the labour market, giving up work to care, or early retirement. Working women face significant difficulties in combining work and care, with more than half reducing their working hours. One in four non-working women carers would consider part- time working as a means of combining work and care 23% of women working in the private sector would like to work part-time in order to combine work and care

Carers & work The predominant sector of carers employment is the public one (46.8%), followed by the private sector (31.8%), though a still remarkable number of the carers are also self-employed (16.9%). It should be highlighted too that, although the legislation on paid and unpaid leaves to look after a dependent family member is the same for all employees, these benefits often represent a true opportunity for public employees only, because if one resorts to these measures in the private sector, the risk of negative repercussions on ones career is much higher than in the public sector (Tarabelli et al. 2001: 251).

Carers & work With regard to non-working carers more than half of them are retired, a condition which concerns however especially men, while professionally inactive women perceive themselves more often as housewives (a female only category). Although unemployed carers are much less numerous than the previous two groups, this condition affects men almost three times more often than women, thus showing a further clear connection between employment status and caregiving condition

Services for carers Special services for family carers in Italy are: Free at point of use: training courses on caring, counselling services for family caregivers, support or self-help groups for family members, helplines offered by associations for family members, internet services. Completely or partially privately paid: regular respite home service (supervision of the elderly for a few hours a day during the week), temporary respite home service (substitution of the family carer for brief periods of time, for example, a week).

Economic provisions for carers In some Italian Regions the so called care cheque is available. Its a monthly allowance given to family members who are committed to provide a full time assistance to disabled elderly. The amount is changeable – connected to the level of disability. In Emilia Romagna, the maximum daily amount is 22 but the contribution decreases if the elderly also receive a special pension provided to people with severe disabilities (indennità di accompagnamento).

Balancing work & care According to law 53/2000, employees have the right to ask for a leave (max duration: 2 years) if they need to assist a close relative with serious health problems. During this periode, they wont receive any salary but their workplace will be kept.

Sofia in L.A.C. Besides being the project coordinator, SOFIA will focus its field work on a research activity aimed, through interviews and focus groups, to do the matching among: Skills devloped in caregiving activities by a full time carer And skills demanded by the job market in the social service area Or skills demanded by volunteer-based organisations (both community based organisations providing home care services and condition specific organisations)