Skip to main content
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

Social dialogue in the sector of social services covers activities related to NACE codes 87 and 88 (residential care and non-residential social work), both the public sector part of social services and the for-profit and non-profit parts, provided by NGOs and private enterprises.

More than 9 million people are employed in the EU in the sector of social services, according to the Eurofound representativeness study for Local and Regional Governments and Social Services (2020).

Workers' organisations


Employers' organisations

 

Challenges


The challenges faced by the sector include:

  • promoting collective bargaining and social dialogue with a view to improving working conditions
  • recruiting and retaining workers
  • improving health and safety at the workplace, including preventing,
    managing and reducing musculoskeletal disorders
  • psycho-social risks at the workplace
  • the increased use of digital technology
  • the development of new care patterns
  • the skills mismatch and the need for regular upskilling
     

Key areas

The social partners are currently focusing on:

  • Occupational health and safety
  • Retain and attract the social services workforce, promoting the workforce diversity and improvement of working conditions.
  • Public procurement, promoting socially responsible public procurement for social services and the inclusion of social requirements and quality in the procurement process.
  • European Care Strategy follow-up, paying special attention to workforce and skills aspects of the care strategy.
  • Strengthening the capacity of social partners and the quality of social dialogue in the social services sector, and developing and improving social dialogue structures across all EU countries
  • Promoting an exchange of knowledge and experience among social partners,
  • Influencing EU policies by participating in consultations on new initiatives.
     

Activities and meetings

Check the library entries for this sectoral social dialogue committee.

Achievements/Joint texts

Check the social dialogue texts database