Regulation and Governance Gaps in the Detection of Labour Exploitation Within State‐Funded Domestic Services

Abstract Examining the provision of domestic care, this article highlights governance gaps in the regional administration of labour rights protections within the direct state funding of long‐term care. Drawing upon data from secondary sources and semi‐structured interviews with stakeholders in four European countries, municipal activities including whistleblowing procedures, care‐worker professionalisation, the expansion of employee's roles and inter‐agency data analysis have been identified and are described. My analysis suggests that initiatives to enhance individual agency are more commonly reported in traditionally familial welfare regimes while collective actions are more frequently described in countries that have had a more universalist approach to the provision of long‐term care. Without further reform and greater theoretical diversification, particularly in relation to its gendered nature, our understanding of potential avenues to improve the detection of labour malpractices seems unlikely to adequately address the evidential threat. Implications for theory, policy, practice and future research are discussed.