The Home Care Social Team believes that professionals who work as Live-in Caregivers with our loved ones at home should have a decent salary, appropriate to their skills and the difficulty of the home care service. For this reason, we recommend to families a salary above the SMI (interprofessional minimum wage).
VII Dependency Agreement | BOE State Agency State Bulletin
New salary tables for the salary of a live-in caregiver as well as a live-in caregiver
- REEH SALARY TABLE – SPECIAL REGIME FOR HOUSEHOLD EMPLOYEES 2020:
In the Salary Table of domestic employees in 2020 in Spain there has been an increase. However, the VII agreement has already been signed. The Salary Table of the VII Agreement is determined by the Minimum Interprofessional Salary that we explain below and which therefore dictates the salary of a live-in caregiver.
- MINIMUM INTERPROFESSIONAL WAGE SMI | SALARY OF A LIVE-IN CAREGIVER:
In the State Agency Official State Gazette it is stated that the 2020 Minimum Interprofessional Salary is €950 per month or a total of €13,300 per year for 40 hours worked, it will always ultimately depend on what the family can and wants to assume financially and what the professional is willing to charge and always also in relation to the psychological and physical state of the elderly beneficiary of the service.
However, it is advisable according to professionals specialized in Psychogeriatrics, Psychiatry and Psychology such as Frederique Lucet de Baluchon Alzheimer® or Professor Maria Ángeles Duran that said remuneration be higher than it has been until now given that remaining at €900 as in previous years leads to Burnout Worker Syndrome and possible mistreatment of the elderly.
Revaluing the Profession | From Internal Caregivers to Auxiliary Life Technicians
We consider three important points regarding the revaluation of the profession regarding the salary of a live-in caregiver:
- Responsibility of the professional: we believe that professionals who work as live-in caregivers have a lot of responsibility in the first place because their main function is to build a bond of attachment and trust with the elderly beneficiary in their own home in order to be recognized as another person in the family and consequently guarantee the quality of life of the elderly person as well as their own. Likewise, an internal professional must quickly adapt to possible changes in the ABDL and IADL (basic and instrumental activities of daily living, respectively) that occur due to the evolution of the possible disease suffered by the elderly person and/or comorbidity. We therefore consider that this responsibility must be recognized in the salary.
- Training of the professional: the professionals who work as live-in caregivers have training in Gerontology and Professional Courses, in fact, the vast majority of cases are professionals highly trained in Gerontology – so they are not geroculturists, but rather gerontologists.
- On other occasions, we can include them under the terminology of geroculturist. In any case, it is always important to provide support to the professional in a complementary way to the training, since it is important to provide tools to the professionals, in order to guarantee that they feel comfortable accompanying the elderly in their daily lives and vice versa, that the elderly person also feels empowered and well cared for. Furthermore, diseases evolve so it is essential to care for the person, always knowing the consequences of the diseases in order to focus on the person’s preserved abilities and not so much on their deficiencies.
- Training and Support: in relation to the two previous points, it is essential to work horizontally with the internal professional who works at home directly with the elderly beneficiary, as it is essential to avoid Burned Out Worker Syndrome and possible inadequate treatment due to negligence due to lack of knowledge regarding the Person and the Diseases.
