The social organization of care has become one of the major challenges for public policy in both Spain and Latin America. While in Spain the recent reform of the Dependency Law and disability legislation, approved by the Congress of Deputies on July 16, introduces substantial changes to the care model, in Mexico civil society organizations are demanding much greater investment to implement a national system that has existed only on paper for years. Both situations share the same diagnosis: care cannot be sustained without sufficient funding and decent working conditions.
The Spanish reform, praised by the Social Platform of Castile and León, strengthens home care, expands personal assistance and housing support, and improves the protection of children under six. It also introduces tax changes that ease the financial burden on families and eliminates the incompatibility rules between benefits, allowing for more flexible combinations of services. In parallel, the maximum processing time for applications is reduced to three months, and a single point of contact for managing benefits is created—a step forward that promises to eliminate much of the bureaucracy that has historically hampered the system.
The figure of the caregiver is included in the law
One of the most significant milestones of the reform is the explicit recognition of the primary caregiver, a figure who, in practice, sustains the system but who until now lacked specific legal support. This person will have the right to information, training, and support, as well as measures that guarantee continuity of care in the event of serious illness or hospitalization. However, caregiver organizations warn that legal recognition does not yet resolve issues such as remuneration, social security contributions, or early retirement.
The reform also incorporates a new Article 35 bis on quality of employment, which mandates the establishment of criteria to guarantee sufficient staffing in centers and will allow for the evaluation of indicators such as salaries, working hours, and temporary employment, broken down by sex, age, origin, and service ownership. This is an important step toward improving working conditions in a traditionally precarious and feminized sector, although its regulatory development will be key to ensuring it doesn't remain merely a statement of intent.
More protection and lower tax costs for families
On the economic front, the reform expands the benefits exempt from income tax, including those related to family care, personal assistance, and housing support. It also stipulates that emergency social aid intended to cover basic needs will not be considered subsidies, thus preventing its taxation as capital gains. Furthermore, social services are recognized as essential services, a change in status that could have profound implications for their funding and the obligation of public authorities to guarantee them.
Another key aspect is the creation of a state working group on the financing and sustainability of the long-term care system, which will analyze the actual economic needs and establish criteria for determining spending. The reform proposes that the contribution from the autonomous communities be at least equivalent to that of the central government , with the goal of reaching 50% state funding. This is one of the most anticipated points, as the gap between recognized rights and available resources has been a long-standing criticism of the system.
The Mexican challenge: insufficient budget and pending co-responsibility
Across the Atlantic, Mexico faces a similar challenge, but with an even greater gap. According to the Organizing Consortium of the National Meeting “The Future of Care in Mexico,” comprised of ten national and international organizations, the current budget is insufficient to build a universal system. By 2026, projected public spending on federal care-related programs represents a mere 1,21% of GDP, a figure far below the 2,9% that the ILO estimates as necessary for adequate public investment.
Organizations report that nine out of ten people with disabilities do not access specialized care, and that only 2% of public services are geared towards older adults. Furthermore, the precarious employment situation of care workers is alarming: only 2 out of every 100 domestic workers have access to social security, and seven out of ten receive no benefits beyond their wages. The lack of labor rights for caregivers is an emergency , especially given projections that the care sector will be one of the largest job creators in the coming decades.
Co-responsibility as a transformative axis
In both Spain and Mexico, the debate on caregiving has highlighted the need to transform the cultural norms that have historically assigned this task to women. Shared responsibility among men, families, the state, the private sector, and society is a central tenet of the proposals. In Mexico, the Consortium has called on all three levels of government, legislators, civil society, and the private sector to join forces to consolidate a national system, with the goal of building a long-term public policy that ensures caregiving as a guaranteed right and a collective responsibility.
At the regional level, Uruguay's National Care Secretariat and the National Institute for Disability (INADIS) have fostered an exchange on the challenges of building comprehensive support and care systems that strengthen the autonomy of people with disabilities. During the Sixth Meeting of the Regional Conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, organized by ECLAC, Valentina Perrotta, Deputy Director of the National Care Secretariat, raised the need to "move towards care systems, but also, and above all, towards support systems for autonomous decision-making." This shift in language and approach is also being called for in other countries of the region.
The Spanish reform, for its part, incorporates specific measures for people with disabilities, such as universal accessibility as a right, the role of the procedural facilitator, and a commitment to drafting a future law on social intervention professions. It also introduces protection measures for women and girls with disabilities and mandates continued evaluation of the gender impact of policies. These advances, along with reduced bureaucracy and improved working conditions, point to a shift in the system's orientation: more home-based care, greater capacity to combine support services, and genuine recognition of caregivers.
However, in both Spain and Mexico, many of these measures will still require regulatory development and agreements between government bodies to become effective rights. Funding remains the major challenge, and the gap between what the laws stipulate and what families actually receive is still enormous. The path toward a care system that guarantees the autonomy, equality, and dignity of both caregivers and those receiving care is long, but recent reforms and pressure from civil society have succeeded in placing it at the heart of the political agenda.
The consolidation of a universal and sustainable care system is not a utopia, but it demands political will, sustained investment, and a profound cultural shift. The reforms approved in Spain and the demands of organizations in Mexico coincide on a fundamental point: care is a right, not a favor, and its organization cannot continue to fall on the shoulders of women . The challenge now is to translate laws into concrete realities, with sufficient budgets, accessible services, and decent working conditions for those who sustain life.