Cash-for-care payments for older people were introduced in Europe mostly in the ‘90s and have had a prominent role in Long-Term Care policies so far. The time passed suggests to investigate the transformations these benefits undergone since their inception. How has their design actually changed? What are the main effects and their implications, and what are the challenges for future policies? The Symposium aims at answering these questions, comparing the experiences of several European countries.

The goals of the Symposium, in fact, consists in a) highlighting the transformations occurred in cash-for-care payments since their introduction, identifying similarities and differences among various countries, and b) providing a comparative discussions of these changes and of their effects, reflecting upon the challenges raised for future policies.

The topics covered by the comparative analysis include the role of cash-for-care payments in the overall LTC system, trends in coverage and intensity, care regulation, and changes in the arrangements concerning carers. Among the transformations discussed, a peculiar attention is also paid to those due, if any, to the recent economic crisis. The countries considered are Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands.

Convener

Cristiano Gori, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Italy cristiano.gori@unitn.it