Connecting care research across Europe: CIRCLE at the Eurocarers Research Working Group in Kraków
Dr Maria Petrillo attended a Eurocarers Research Working Group meeting and conference in Kraków, Poland. Read her account of the trip here.
On 16–17 September, I had the pleasure of representing CIRCLE and the Centre for Care at the Eurocarers Research Working Group meeting and conference in Kraków, Poland, hosted at Jagiellonian University.
The two days brought together researchers, carer organisations and policy experts from across Europe to exchange evidence and ideas about unpaid care, with a particular focus this year on the economic value and costs of informal care. The first day was dedicated to the annual Eurocarers Research Working Group meeting, while the second brought us together for the conference The Economic Value of Informal Care: from Europe to Poland.
From research questions to new collaborations
One of the things I particularly enjoyed about the Research Working Group was how interactive it was. Rather than simply listening to presentations, much of the day was spent working together in small groups.
We began by discussing Eurocarers’ plans for a 2027 position paper on the economic value of informal care. In smaller groups, we explored questions around how we measure the value of unpaid care, the role of social policy and questions of fairness and equity, and how long-term care is financed under different welfare systems.
Later, we moved from identifying evidence gaps to thinking about what research we might actually do together. A research coalition workshop focused on four priorities identified by Eurocarers members: working carers, carers’ financial wellbeing, inequalities and intersectionality in care, and carers’ physical and mental health. The aim was to develop ideas that could eventually become collaborative research projects, papers or funding proposals. I joined the financial wellbeing group, and in less than 2 hours our group came out with 5 different research proposals for future grant applications!
This was particularly valuable for me because there is such a strong overlap with the work we are doing within CIRCLE and the Centre for Care. It created opportunities not just to share our research, but to start conversations about where we might collaborate internationally in the future.
We also took part in a World Café, where researchers gave short pitches about their work and then moved between small groups for discussion. Topics ranged from cooperation between unpaid carers and paid care staff, to carer education and empowerment, and the reconciliation of paid work and care.
And, importantly, there was plenty of time around all of this to talk informally! I had the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with researchers and colleagues from organisations across Europe, including Family Carers Ireland, the Coalition of Carers in Scotland, Carers Finland, INRCA in Italy, Strategic Young Carers Alliance in the Netherlands, Acufade in Spain, EPIONI in Greece, universities in Slovenia, Finland and Belgium, and colleagues from Eurocarers itself.
The economic value of informal care: from Europe to Poland
The second day was a larger conference, The Economic Value of Informal Care: from Europe to Poland, which brought together researchers, carer organisations, civil society and policymakers to think about both the enormous contribution unpaid carers make to economies and care systems, and the economic costs faced by carers themselves.
The morning began by placing these questions in a wider European context. Professor Andreas Hoff introduced the challenge of making unpaid care economically visible. His presentation highlighted how care provided by families is often treated as if it were “free”, despite carers facing direct costs, employment-related costs and substantial opportunity costs through lost income, career progression and pension entitlements. He also emphasised the need for better comparable data across Europe if we want to understand and communicate the economic value of unpaid care more effectively.
Dr Shannon Pfohman, Executive Director of Eurocarers, then introduced Eurocarers and its work to strengthen carer-led organisations across Europe. Eurocarers currently brings together carer advocacy organisations and research institutes across 26 European countries, connecting research, policy advocacy and the voices of carers.
A particularly interesting keynote from Dr Anna Zachorowska-Mazurkiewicz of Jagiellonian University approached care from a feminist economics perspective. She explored the way unpaid care has historically been made invisible within conventional economic thinking, despite being fundamental to the functioning of the wider economy. Her presentation also drew attention to gender differences in employment and part-time work across Europe, reinforcing the close relationship between the organisation of care and women’s economic participation.
We then heard a very timely Polish policy perspective from Dominika Janiszewska-Kajka from the Polish Ministry of Health. Her presentation described current reforms in Poland aimed at improving coordination between health and social care, developing home- and community-based provision, strengthening the formal care workforce and providing more systematic support for informal carers.
What I found particularly useful was hearing how different countries are trying to put a number on something that is inherently difficult to measure.
Dr Nikki Dunne from Family Carers Ireland discussed the practical challenges of estimating the economic contribution of unpaid carers in Ireland. Even seemingly simple questions (how many carers there are, how many hours they provide, and what hourly rate should be attached to that care) can produce very different estimates.
Dr Primoz Skrt from ACUFADE presented a fascinating study from the Canary Islands which estimated 343 million hours of unpaid long-term care each year, worth approximately €3.18 billion. Their work used a deliberately conservative replacement-cost approach, valuing care at the statutory minimum wage. But the broader point went beyond the headline figure: unpaid care sustains the formal economy while remaining largely invisible in conventional economic accounts and only partially recognised in social protection systems.
His presentation also raised an important European policy question. Although unpaid carers are increasingly recognised within initiatives such as the European Care Strategy and the European Pillar of Social Rights, there remain major differences between countries in carers’ access to income protection, pension credits and other forms of social protection.
Dr Emma Miller from the Coalition of Carers in Scotland took a complementary approach using time-use diaries. Her work showed that carers in the study spent an average of 7.8 hours per day caring but, crucially, the diaries revealed aspects of caring that economic calculations struggle to capture. Care was often dispersed throughout the day and night and included coordinating appointments and services, providing reassurance and emotional support, remaining alert, and being constantly available.
This led to one of the most thought-provoking messages of the day: putting a monetary value on care can make it visible, but it can also only ever capture part of its value.
Who pays the price of long-term care?
The afternoon shifted the focus from the value carers create to the economic risks and penalties associated with caring.
Dr Georgia Casanova from INRCA in Italy presented comparative European evidence showing that the central question is not whether long-term care has a cost, but where that cost falls: on public services, private markets, or households through unpaid work and reduced employment. Her research across eight European countries showed that greater public provision and access to formal services can protect households economically, whereas high private expenditure and unmet care needs can increase vulnerability. Her presentation also highlighted an important mismatch between the value of the care families provide and the protection available to carers themselves.
I then presented work from the ESRC Centre for Care on the caregiving income penalty in the UK. Our research uses an individual synthetic-control approach which creates a statistical “doppelgänger” for each person who becomes a carer (e.g. someone with a very similar trajectory who does not take on caring responsibilities), allowing us to estimate more robustly what happens to income as a consequence of becoming an unpaid carer. The results show that the income penalty increases as caring hours rise and that the penalties are also unevenly distributed, with women and young carers experiencing a larger income penalty.
Professor Andreas Hoff closed the session with a presentation on the monetary value of informal care in Germany. His analysis estimated the annual societal value of informal care at between €206 billion and €234 billion, depending on the wage assumptions used to value replacement care. What was especially striking was the contrast between this value and the financial support carers receive. Andreas described this as a “funding paradox”: unpaid carers generate more than €200 billion in value, while the public cash benefits paid to households providing care are only a fraction of this.
Coming home with more than a conference badge
For me, the real value of the two days was the combination of research, policy and relationship-building. I came away with new perspectives on how other European countries are approaching unpaid care, but also with many new connections and conversations that I hope will continue well beyond Kraków.
Importantly, those conversations were not just about exchanging ideas. We started discussing potential future grant applications, including opportunities to use European funding schemes to develop genuinely comparative cross-country research on unpaid care. We also explored ideas for joint papers and reports on both the value of care and the costs faced by carers, bringing together evidence from different national contexts.
For CIRCLE, this is exactly the kind of value that comes from being part of an international network such as Eurocarers: not only sharing our own research, but identifying common questions, finding complementary expertise, and creating the foundations for future collaborative work.
Final bonus: Krakow was gorgeous!
