See also our guide to home insurance in Portugal, or high-value home insurance in Spain, for cover on the property itself.
Hiring a nanny, driver, gardener, housekeeper or carer can feel informal because the work happens at home. In Portugal and in Spain, paid domestic work still creates an employer relationship. That means obligations for registration, contributions, workplace-accidents insurance and, in many households, liability protection that goes beyond a standard home policy.
The mistake is treating domestic staff as a favour, a cash arrangement or an extension of the family. Once someone is paid to work in the home, the household has legal and insurance duties that need to be set up properly.
Social security is not optional
Domestic employees should be registered with Segurança Social and declared according to their work pattern and remuneration. Contributions protect the worker and evidence the employment relationship. Without registration, a later accident or dispute becomes much harder and more expensive to resolve.
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Workplace-accidents insurance is compulsory
Portugal requires employers to hold workplace-accidents insurance for employees. For domestic service, that means a policy covering accidents suffered while carrying out the declared work. It applies even where the worker only attends for limited hours each week.
The house is private, but the obligation is not. A paid worker in the home turns the household into an employer.
Liability to third parties
Accidents cover protects the worker. It does not automatically protect the household if the worker injures someone else or damages third-party property while acting for the family. Household liability should be checked to confirm whether domestic staff are included and under what conditions.
Roles need to be described honestly
- A nanny driving children creates a different risk from a nanny working only inside the home.
- A gardener using machinery is different from occasional light maintenance.
- A driver, carer or housekeeper who travels with the family may need territorial extensions.
- Live-in staff can raise accommodation, property and liability questions.
Good insurance starts with an accurate map of who works in the household, what they do, where they do it and how they are paid. From there, the correct accidents cover, home liability and any travel extensions can be arranged without guesswork.
The same obligation in Spain
Spain arrives at the same obligation by a different route. A household that employs a nanny, driver, gardener, housekeeper or carer directly must register them with the Seguridad Social under the special system for household employees before work starts, whatever the hours, and pay the employer’s contributions. Those contributions include cover for accidents at work, so Spain has no separate compulsory private policy equivalent to the Portuguese seguro de acidentes de trabalho. Recent reforms have also given household employees unemployment protection and placed health-and-safety duties on the employer, including a risk assessment of the home.
For the household, three points carry over directly:
- Registration is not optional in either country, and an unregistered worker’s accident becomes the employer’s own cost.
- The liability section of a Spanish home policy — which usually includes family liability as standard — covers injury to third parties, not the employee’s own accident, exactly as in Portugal.
- A driver needs the motor policy to name them and reflect how the car is used; a nanny who travels needs cover checked for each country; and roles should be described as they are, on both sides of the border.
Households with staff in both countries should settle which country’s rules apply to each person before the season starts. See private clients in Spain.
Review the cover before the gap appears
If you employ private staff at home in Portugal or Spain, Adler & Rochefort can review the employer obligations, arrange workplace-accidents cover and check whether your household liability protects the arrangements you actually have.
This article is provided for general information and does not constitute personalised advice; the position for any household, vehicle, collection or journey depends on its own facts and on the policy wording. Adler & Rochefort is a commercial brand of Ownizo, Unipessoal Lda., mediador registado na ASF n.º 425591790/3.
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