A pay rise for care workers that was the centrepiece of the Scottish budget is unlikely to address the “dramatic instability” in the care sector, the head of Scottish Care has said.

Finance minister Kate Forbes pledged to increase care staff wages to £10.50 an hour as she unveiled the 2022/23 Scottish Budget last week.

This will be the second government-funded pay increase for care workers in three months as staffing shortages in the sector driven by rising wages elsewhere continue.

Speaking to healthandcare.scot, Scottish Care CEO Dr Donald Macaskill said: “It's too early to see. It sounds great as a newspaper headline. But what has been the devil, as always, is in the details.

“…Until we get the detail of what the consequence of the social care uplift is, it's too early to respond. There is absolutely no point in saying to a care worker, you're going to get paid £10.50 If they lose their job because the organisation employing them goes out of business, because there isn't enough resources to do everything else.

“We remain extremely concerned that headline-grabbing figures fail to understand the dramatic instability of the social care sector in Scotland.”

Some care providers may not get funding for the first pay rise, announced in October, until February, healthandcare.scot revealed earlier this month, raising questions about how long it will take the latest tranche to get to the frontline.

Annie Gunner Logan, chief executive of CCPS, which represents third sector care providers, echoed these concerns.

She said on Twitter: ‘A further pay increase for care & support workers is welcome. But [Scottish government] *must* change the policy parameters & funding distribution mechanisms if it is to deliver the intended benefits. The current system is *utterly* dysfunctional.’

The charity ENABLE Scotland said staff turnover had reduced by up to three times in demonstration sites where it had increased care workers’ wages raised by 50p.

Dr MacAskill says morale among the care workforce is so low there is a risk many won’t stick around long enough to see bigger pay packets.

The Scottish Care boss told healthandcare.scot: “Mental health, fatigue and the trauma of grief and bereavement which [the social care workforce] is enduring is my number one concern at the moment.

“We can and we will be determined to sort out all the stuff related to terms and conditions and fair work and fair commissioning.

“But my primary concern as we move 10 days, 12 days before Christmas, is will these women and men be able to get through the next six weeks? And I don't know the answer to that question.”

Read more: Budget: Major increase in social care spending; Social care: Living Wage should be "floor not ceiling"; Care worker pay rise hit by funding delays

Sign up to our bulletin for key health & social care updates straight to your inbox.