The Use of Social Services by Retirement Migrants. The Case of Spain

The EU has made various attempts to establish a legal framework to guarantee access to social protection for all EU citizens living in a different European country than their own. However, differing migration fluxes pose specific problems for the effective applicability of this legal framework. This paper addresses the specific case of international retirement migration (IRM), elderly Europeans living in municipalities along the Spanish coastline. It seeks to assess the extent to which international retirement migrants (IRMs) make use of Spanish public elder-care services, as well as how public officials deal with their demands. The data stems from qualitative interviews with 19 social workers in ten communities characterized by a sizable population of retirement migrants. We found that substantial numbers of retirement migrants remain in Spain well after dependency sets in. This necessitates the development of complex strategies to obtain care by means of social networks, voluntary associations, and private care providers. A reluctance to engage with Spanish social services may explain the fact that these services are accessed only as a last resort when all other options have failed. However, the entire process of evaluating the needs of and granting public care services to retirement migrants is plagued by difficulties. Social workers cite the lack of a common language as a significant obstacle, together with insufficient information on claimants’ health, economic, and family situations (many IRMs are not registered as residents in Spain). The familistic rules governing Spanish social services and the recent reductions in public budgets due to the economic crisis constitute additional barriers to the adequate protection of IRMs.