Home Care Reform in the Netherlands: Impacts on Unpaid Care in Rotterdam

The 2007 change in the law of home care for household help in the Netherlands concerns competitive tendering at municipal level. This has reduced quality and choice for care receivers. In this paper, I report from a small survey in the city of Rotterdam on the impact of the law change on unpaid home carers. The results show that the burden for unpaid carers has increased whereas the quality of paid care as perceived by the unpaid carers has declined. This calls into question whether the reform has met its objectives: improving participation of people with needs for household help and improving efficiency in service delivery.