Home Support Services in Portugal: SAD vs. Private Home Care

By Sandra Ferreira, Technical Director at Lxiscare.

Today’s society is shaped by an ageing population, and with it, a rise in chronic and disabling conditions that require a caregiver to support someone’s daily life. If you’re trying to arrange that kind of support in Portugal, whether for yourself as a foreign resident or for a parent while you live abroad, it helps to understand exactly what’s available and how it works.

What is the Home Support Service (SAD)?

Portugal’s Serviço de Apoio Domiciliário, or SAD (Home Support Service), is a social response that provides care and support at home to people who, due to illness, disability or another limitation, can’t temporarily or permanently meet their own basic needs and daily activities. This support can be provided by a family member (an informal caregiver) or by a professional (a formal caregiver), either through Social Security or through a private company, like Lxiscare.

What a caregiver does

A caregiver may or may not be a family member, and supports an older person’s daily activities, paid or unpaid, covering nutrition, personal hygiene, routine medication, and accompanying medical appointments, always excluding techniques and procedures reserved for legally regulated health professions. When this work is done professionally and for pay, it’s called formal caregiving; when a family member takes it on without specific training or pay, it’s informal caregiving. You can read more about this distinction and about a caregiver’s day-to-day tasks in our article What Does a Home Caregiver for Seniors Actually Do?

According to Portugal’s Social Security Institute, a formal caregiver acting in a domestic-services capacity is someone who “regularly provides another person… activities aimed at meeting a household’s needs (cooking, doing laundry, cleaning the home, looking after children or older people, gardening or pet care, sewing services, etc.), receiving a regular payment in return.” A caregiver’s main tasks include household tasks such as cleaning and laundry, cooking, administering medication, doing the household shopping, and supervising and supporting adults, namely helping with individual needs (therapeutic, hygiene, mobility, nutrition…), keeping records of the care and activities provided, advising the family on topics like nutrition and adapting to a clinical situation, and accompanying or booking medical appointments.

Formal caregivers should also have certain personal qualities essential to the role: ethics, professionalism, a good relationship with the client and their family, empathy, punctuality and reliability, discretion, and active listening.

Who can request home support

Anyone in a situation of dependency, even a temporary one, can access home support, either through Social Security, subject to a means assessment and place availability, or through a private company like Lxiscare, with a faster response and more flexible scheduling. Social Security publishes official guidance on the support available to older people, in Portuguese, on gov.pt and on the Social Security website. If navigating these in a foreign language feels like one more hurdle, it helps to know our care team speaks English: a private provider like Lxiscare can talk you through your options directly, in English, and help with the practical steps.

Social Security’s SAD vs. private home support

Social Security’s SAD operates through IPSS organisations and other institutions with cooperation agreements. Costs are lower and adjusted to household income, but places are limited and there’s often a waiting list. Private home support, like Lxiscare’s, allows for a faster start, personalised scheduling (including 24-hour care), and a direct say in choosing your team, without depending on place availability, with a cost tailored to each situation.

Want to know which option best fits your family’s situation? Contact Lxiscare and ask for a no-obligation quote.