Care doesn’t follow a schedule. Flexibility matters
On European Carers Day, 6 October 2026, the European Federation for Family Employment & Home Care (EFFE) joins Eurocarers and six other European organisations in signing the Joint European Statement “Care doesn’t follow a schedule. Flexibility matters.” Millions of people across Europe provide unpaid care to a loved one while also working, studying or raising a family, yet working life is still organised around fixed schedules. The statement welcomes the rights introduced by the EU Work-Life Balance Directive, but stresses that five days of unpaid carers’ leave cannot reflect ongoing, intensive or fluctuating care needs. It calls on European and national policymakers, employers and other stakeholders for meaningful carers’ leave, greater flexibility at work, protection against economic insecurity, supportive workplaces, recognition of informal carers, and flexible access to affordable, high-quality long-term care and respite care.
For EFFE, this last point is essential. A right to respite only means something if it is truly accessible and freely chosen, which calls for relief solutions adapted to each situation. Care at home, and in particular household employment, is one concrete answer: it is flexible, it lets the person receiving care stay in a familiar environment, and it leaves carers free to choose who they entrust their loved one to. Because everyone should be able to work, care and live, without being forced to choose.