As an area of employment, PHS has the potential to grow significantly. Increasing the number of regular PHS employees will be necessary to meet the growing demands for PHS, many of which stem from the demographic changes taking place across Europe. A growing population of older people will require more support to stay in their own homes, while the shrinking working-age population will necessitate initiatives that help activate and reactivate as many working-age individuals as possible, for example by a better work-life balance providing more choices for women in employment. Evolving expectations, inspired by international human rights legislation such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, are also leading to an increase in demand for PHS. The Advancing Personal and Household Services (Ad-PHS) Project aims to create a common discursive framework around PHS among different actors in the different Member States. Within this context, creating a common discursive framework would imply an awareness for the different definitions of PHS in different member states and a joint communication effort in order to find a definition that is feasible for all the actors implied, a shared classification of the different approaches used for the promotion of this field and a shared understanding of the guidelines for action, that would support its further development. Therefore, the goal of the present project is to understand how PHS currently function in different contexts and to use this information to develop frameworks that support all EU Member States to develop their PHS policies. Discover clicking below the English version of the State of Play report in the 21 EU member states or find it in your own language on the Country Profiles!
The severe disruption to services caused by the COVID-19 crisis has led most EU Member States to adopt measures designed to address this impact on the PHS sectors. The Ad-PHS project carried out a study and produce a report on the short-term impact of COVID-19 on the PHS sectors. The report analyses the steps that governments across Europe have taken to absorb the shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on the scope/quality of services and the level of employment in different PHS sectors. Furthermore, it presents recommendations for furthering the development of the PHS field in the EU Member States. Discover clicking below the English version of the short term impact of Covid -19 report or find it in your own language on the Country Profiles!
The Personal and Household Services (PHS) sectors are a complex field in which it is essential to ensure a common understanding of certain key concepts. Our understanding of concepts such as professionalisation or undeclared work shapes the content of the Ad-PHS report and we wish to ensure that our readers are aware of our conceptualization of these items. We have thus included below a short Glossary referencing the key terms for which provides a definition that has been deemed relevant. For further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the project partners.”