Portugal’s Informal Caregiver Statute: Recognition without Transformation?

This blog is based on an article published in Social Policy and Society by Ester de Oliveira, Rui Branco and Fátima Suleman.

In 2019, Portugal adopted its first Informal Caregiver Statute (ICS), formally recognising unpaid caregivers—most of whom are women—as a key feature in the country’s long-term care system. Hailed as a policy milestone, the Statute emerged from grassroots mobilisation and cross-party consensus. While the ICS succeeded in putting informal care on the political agenda, and modestly expanded compensation, information and conciliation measures, it does not fundamentally challenge Portugal’s long-standing reliance on unpaid family care work.

A social movement catalyses policy change

The push for formal recognition began in 2015–2016, when informal carers and advocacy groups launched a coordinated campaign to highlight the burden of unpaid care. With the help of allied media, the movement gained support across civil society and within Parliament, drawing public endorsements from the President of the Republic and the engagement of major parties in Parliament.

In 2016, the movement submitted a petition to parliament calling for a statute to protect carers’ rights and improve access to public care services. The petition also highlighted the need for financial support and a stronger role for the state in long-term care. Parliament unanimously approved the petition in 2018, triggering a wave of legislative activity, though notably the ruling minority Socialist Party (PS) avoided using the term “Statute” in its own draft law, signalling caution. Eventually, the Informal Caregiver Statute was adopted in September 2019 as Law No. 100/2019. It set up a framework for identifying and registering informal carers and introduced, for the first time, a means-tested allowance for caregivers, albeit subject to strict eligibility criteria.

Incremental progress, structural limits

The movement’s ability to shape the public narrative and exploit political opportunity was crucial in securing the law’s passage. However, the ICS was only partially responsive to the social movement’s demands. Of the 26 policy demands submitted in the original petition, only 10 made it into the final legislation, and just one had the backing of the incumbent Socialist Party. Provisions such as paid leave or flexible working for carers, pension credits for caregiving years, expansion of formal care services, and recognition of non-family caregivers were watered down, deferred, or excluded.

Portugal continues to rely heavily on informal care. According to the latest data, in 2019 about 12% of the resident population provided informal care to dependants; 80% cared for family members, 42% devoted more than ten hours per week to care, and around two-thirds were women. The 12.3% of the Portuguese population providing care compares with the EU-27 average of 10.3%, according to the European Commission’s Long-Term Care Report. Scholars have labelled this model unsupported familism and familism by default. It is characterised by limited public or subsidised services and a lack of policies supporting informal carers, meaning that families—rather than the state or the market—bear the primary responsibility for care provision. The ICS, in its current form, reinforces rather than challenges this pattern. Recognition has not yet translated into redistribution of care responsibilities or investment in alternatives.

Post-legislation mobilisation and political response

Five years on, the shortcomings of the ICS soon became apparent. Advocacy groups criticised its restrictive eligibility rules, ungenerous allowance, and its exclusion of neighbours and friends as potential carers. Crucially, it offered little to no relief for working carers, who lack time off or legal protection.

Dissatisfaction kept the social movement engaged. In 2022, the National Association of Informal Carers submitted a citizens’ legislative initiative calling for improvements. In response, the radical left environmentalist parties PAN and BE and the centre-right PSD put forward draft legislation in 2023 to revise the ICS. Only the incumbent PSD proposal was passed, expanding the scope of individuals eligible for ICS recognition to non-family members, and making it possible for family carers who do not share tax residence with their care recipients to assume the role of primary carers, thus becoming eligible for the informal caregiver allowance. Additionally, the government has partially simplified administrative procedures and improved support measures for caregivers’ respite.

From familial obligation to supported choice?

The Informal Caregiver Statute was a policy innovation driven by an effective and resilient social movement. It reflects growing public recognition of unpaid carers and signals political openness to reform.

The Portuguese reform is an instance of a wider trend. Indeed, from 2017 to 2021 many EU Member States improved conditions for informal carers. Key measures include introducing carer’s allowances, leave entitlements, training, psychological support, and respite care, which were adopted in countries such as France, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Belgium, Austria, Croatia, Spain and Ireland. The move to formally integrate informal carers in the publicly supported provision under a variety of guises, rather than advancing the de-familiarisation process, has blurred the boundaries between formal and informal care, resulting in a de facto further familiarisation of care.

Could Portugal evolve towards a model where caregiving is a supported choice, rather than a familial obligation? The French case, which has gradually expanded carer rights and institutional backing, suggests that transition is plausible. But without significant public investment in care services and labour protections, symbolic legislation is unlikely to achieve long-term transformation. To move from recognition to transformation, Portugal must invest in formal care services, address gender imbalances in caregiving, and provide carers with real protections. Otherwise, the Statute risks becoming an empty promise.

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Reference

Coelho de Oliveira, Ester, Rui Branco, and Fátima Suleman. 2025. “Running Fast, Just to Stay in the Same Place? Social Movements, Political Parties, and the Politics of the Portuguese Informal Caregiver Statute (2015–2019).” Social Policy and Society: 1–16. doi: 10.1017/S1474746425100882.

About the authors

Ester Coelho de Oliveira is PhD Candidate at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal.

Rui Branco is Associate Professor in Political Studies at NOVA University Lisbon, Portugal.

Fátima Suleman is Professor in Political Economy at ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal.