Scottish ministers have been told their current proposals for a national care service will have a negative and damaging impact on the cohesion and effectiveness of  local government workforces and the communities they serve.

In their most strongly worded statement so far, the local government organisation COSLA, alongside trade unions UNISON and Unite, are appealing to the Scottish government to amend its plans put out for consultation last year to ensure council staff continue to deliver social care and professional social work services.

In their joint statement the organisations renewed calls for investment to be brought forward saying ‘there is an opportunity now to address the problems of social care and improve the experience of those who rely on the service, without waiting for extensive and costly structural change’.

‘We believe that the improvements and investment needed in our social care system, which are the consequence of long-term underinvestment, simply cannot wait for the proposed creation of a National Care Service.’

The Scottish government said it wants to work 'collectively and in partnership' with councils and unions to deliver improvements for the social care workforce, and denied things are being delayed in the meantime.

COSLA’s Spokesperson for Resources, Councillor Gail Macgregor, said the Scottish government seems to be failing to recognise the importance of the interconnections between different essential council services:

“By continuing to separate our workforce, we continue to hamper our ability to deliver truly preventative services and will spend money on structural reform that will do little or nothing to enhance the services so many in our communities require.”

Johanna Baxter, UNISON Scotland Head of Local Government, said:

"The pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to address issues in social care. Many of those could and should be addressed now through investment which recognises, respects and rewards the vital work and expertise of those who deliver this service.

“We cannot and should not break up the local government workforce, particularly at this critical time in our recovery from the pandemic.

“This is a community service, delivered in the community, and our local councils are uniquely placed to link it with other community-based services that support health and well-being such as housing, education, leisure, culture, families and neighbours.

“Centralising this under a national structure risks weakening these community connections, weakening democratic accountability and creating significant disruption costs.”

Unite the Union’s Regional Officer Wendy Dunsmore also believes the current democratic accountability of elected councillors overseeing local services will be lost if new community health and social care boards answer directly to the government in Edinburgh:

“A critical issue for us which needs to be resolved at the outset is that the National Care Service needs to be democratically accountable and delivered locally for the benefit of communities, workers and service users.”

She added:

“The focus of the proposals should be on establishing a properly funded and publicly owned National Care Service with the direct input of trade unions and local government. For Unite this must also include a serious plan to establish collective bargaining in all areas of social care services including the third sector and private sector.”

Responding to the joint statement, Scotland's Social Care Minister Kevin Stewart MSP said:

“We are committed to addressing the issues facing social care. I wrote to COSLA this week to ask that we work, collectively and in partnership, to deliver improvements to the pay and terms and conditions of the social care workforce now and in the future.”

“Integration of health and social care has been the shared ambition of national and local government for many years, but the Independent Review of Adult Social Care found the current way of working has not fully delivered the improvements it was intended to achieve. 

“Our ambition is to create a comprehensive community health and social care service that that promotes quality and consistency of care and provides support for all.

"We’re going to end the postcode lottery of care provision in Scotland.

“However, we are not waiting for the National Care Service to start improving social care and we are taking steps now to improve outcomes for people accessing care and support and care workers. We are committed to increasing funding for social care by 25 per cent by the end of this Parliament.

“Meanwhile we are working with partners in local government, the third sector and independent providers to attract more people to the care sector and a new £1m fund has also been established to support projects which look after the wellbeing of staff working in social care.”

 

Read more: Call for dedicated home carer 111 hotline; Minister: Public backs our National Care Service plans; Watchdogs: Care can’t wait five years for action

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