LOGO

The research project examines the social protection of older people in need of long-term care from an international comparative perspective by analysing pension policy and long-term care policy not as separate fields, but as institutionally interconnected areas of social policy. It starts from the observation that older people are often simultaneously affected by inadequate income protection and care needs, and that existing gaps in social protection may emerge—or be mitigated—through the interaction of different social policy arrangements. At the core of the project is a conceptual approach based on institutional constellations, which understands pension and long-term care policies as potentially complementary or substitutive institutions. Public pensions play a central role in preventing old-age poverty, particularly among people in need of care, as care-related costs and co-payments can place additional pressure on disposable income. At the same time, the design and generosity of long-term care policies can affect the income situation of pensioners, for example through private cost-sharing or informal care arrangements. The project builds on a typology of pension and long-term care constellations developed by the applicants and aims to extend it theoretically, deepen its international comparative application, and apply it to additional policy areas relevant to old-age security, such as minimum income protection, housing, and healthcare. By bringing together international expertise in a Special Issue, the project seeks to make a systematic contribution to research on old-age social protection, with particular emphasis on the role of the institutional design of pension systems in interaction with other systems of social protection. Link