This month, in its freshly adopted 2025 EU Semester Report, the European Parliament called on the Commission to promote access to quality social services. A concrete action to follow from the Parliament’s call should be the development and implementation of an EU Framework for Quality in Social Services. The European Social Network (ESN) is preparing a comprehensive proposal for how this can be done.
EU to gear up action on quality in social services
Most readers may not even be aware, but in 2010, the EU Council’s Social Protection Committee (SPC), consisting of national ministry representatives, published a Voluntary European Quality Framework for Social Services. However, as an evaluation found, this framework got very little traction. It is now time to revise it to make it more concrete, more practice-oriented, and, therefore, more impactful. Initial discussions have already taken place within the SPC in 2024 under the Belgian EU Council Presidency. In a joint declaration, the SPC called for a review of the voluntary framework. Now it is time to advance further.
Put people at the centre of social service quality assurance
While the 2010 voluntary framework lists several quality principles, it does not go into detail about what these principles mean in practice for quality assurance. ESN’s proposal will include person-centred quality standards expressed as ‘I-statements’, describing the expectations of people using services, and ‘We-statements’ representing the aspiration of service providers to meet those expectations. To help providers put their quality aspirations into practice, each standard will be accompanied by suggestions they could put in place to meet the standards. For example, this could mean professionals having regular care planning meetings with the person using the service to meet the ‘I-Statement’ Standard: “I am involved in all care and support decisions affecting my life.”
Social services see strong added value in an EU framework
ESN’s proposal is responding to a need for practical support for social services leaders, who consistently tell us that quality assurance is their most important priority. This month, for example, ESN surveyed its members and found that 85% indicated quality as the most important priority, ahead of funding and workforce. “Agreed quality standards for social services can drive consistency in social services across Europe,” John Maguire, Acting Head of Practice and Performance Systems at Tusla Ireland’s Child and Family Agency, explained. Bianca Andrea Caruana, Manager of Quality Audit, Risk, Research and Innovation at Agenzija Sapport, Malta, stressed: “These standards could allow us to further align our methods and tools with other European countries.”
The new Pillar Action Plan needs action on quality in social services
The European Commission should respond to the calls for action from social services and Members of the European Parliament by including a new EU Framework for Quality in Social Services as a central action in the upcoming plan for implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights.
ESN’s latest policy brief, ‘Towards a European Framework for Quality in Social Services,’ offers a preview of such a framework. Our full proposal will be presented by the end of 2025, just in time for the start of the New Pillar Action Plan.
