Fostering social services that embrace ‘co-creation’    

Co-creation is central to the future of social services in Europe. However, findings from the RESPONSIVE project, which assessed citizen engagement and co-production of social services in six European countries, found that social services often lack the tools, training, and resources to effectively involve the people they support. This was a point stressed by Ana Radulescu, European Social Network (ESN) Member and Executive Director of the Centre for Training and Assessment in Social Work in Romania, at the presentation of the project's policy recommendations at the European Parliament.  

“People need to feel heard and respected while engaging with social services. They need to feel that they can say: 'I have a role. I am in control of my life, and I can make decisions that affect my life’”, Ms. Radulescu remarked. “This is the outcome responsive services should aim for.” 

Promoting person-centred, responsive services through a new quality framework  

A key tool for achieving responsive and co-created social services is ESN’s proposal for an updated European Framework for Quality in Social Services. It places joint decision-making at the centre of service planning, delivery, and evaluation, from co-created support plans to inclusive leadership. “The adoption of the framework would be a step forward to establishing truly responsive services across Europe”, said Michael Rasell, University Lecturer in Disability Rights at the University of Innsbruck, at a recent European Parliament event. 

The framework, launched in November 2025 in the European Parliament, is the result of four years of intensive reflection by ESN’s Working Group on Quality in Social Services. It lists 23 quality standards, based on principles such as person-centred, community-based and well-led services.  

Making the new quality framework an EU flagship initiative  

ESN’s proposal is a vital contribution to the EU’s future social service policy, as it calls for a review of the 2010 Voluntary Quality Framework as part of the new European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan. Its cross-sectoral scope makes it an action that can be linked to many upcoming social policy initiatives at the EU level, including the EU 2026 Anti-Poverty Strategy, the 2026 EU Disability Strategy and the newly announced 2027 EU Care Deal. Without quality social services, none of those strategies can be delivered. 

In a welcome move, the Cypriot EU Council Presidency, which started on 1 January 2026, has made access to quality services a key priority. Going forward, it should use its agenda-setting power in the EU Council to make the quality of social services a central theme for discussion between Member States. ESN was invited to present the framework at the Social Protection Committee meeting organised by the Presidency on 18 February. 

Testing the framework with public authorities 

While further advocating for EU-level adoption, ESN is moving forward with on-the-ground testing of the framework. In addition to Iceland, where the framework served as a basis for the development of national quality standards in 2024-2025, and Ireland, where the Health Information and Quality Authority uses the ESN Quality Framework to review its own quality processes, the County Council of Gipuzkoa will be the first authority in Spain to apply the framework at local level. 

At the launch of the framework at the EU level, Herdís Gunnarsdóttir, CEO of the Icelandic Quality Inspection Agency (GEV), said: “The ESN framework formed the basis for the development of Icelandic quality standards. Its person and outcome-centred principles align with our legislation and practice, and its use of “I- and We Statements” makes it accessible to both service users and providers and the arrangements it suggests make it easier for our providers to apply the standards in practice”  

Authorities interested in learning more about this process are invited to join the European Social Services Conference 2026 in Malta, where HIQA and Gipuzkoa will present how they used ESN’s framework to develop and improve their quality assurance systems.