Organisations representing Scotland’s social work community say there needs to be a national conversation on social care funding so that disabled people can get the care they want and professionals can deliver the duties required of them.

Three reports are published today, bringing together the different perspectives of disabled people and social workers. All point to converging challenges of escalating demand, workforce instability and too little funding.

Two of the papers explore the impact of changes to Self-Directed Support (SDS) personal budgets – specifically funding for SDS Option 1 direct payments – based on surveys of disabled people and carers, and social workers respectively.

Professional body for social work, Social Work Scotland, has then brought these together in a third report which concludes that demand for support continues to grow in scale, complexity, and urgency – driven by demographic change, inequality, and unmet need.

It says, at the same time, funding is short-term, fragmented, and insufficient to meet statutory duties.

The report concludes:

‘Without decisive action, this gap will continue to widen, shifting risk onto disabled people, unpaid carers, and frontline workers and fundamentally undermining the sustainability and credibility of Scotland’s social care system.’

Social Work Scotland says the findings are ‘stark but unsurprising’, with disabled people and unpaid carers reporting rising unmet need and reduced flexibility, while social workers say they are being forced to ration services and manage risk under increasing pressure.

Adults Social Work Policy and Practice Lead at Social Work Scotland, Neil Gibson says the wider perspective offered by the surveys points to the “immediate need” for a “more plural, less polarised conversation” about Scotland’s social care system:

“Hearing these voices together highlights the human impact of a system under strain due to growing demand, workforce instability, and short-term, fragmented funding which we can say is currently threatening the delivery of statutory duties and sustainability of care.”

Social Work Scotland says there needs to be a fundamental move away from seeing spending on support being regarded as a cost, to it being seen as an investment.

The authors cite research published last year by the Scottish Social Services Council and Skills for Care and Development Alliance showing every £1 invested in adult social care generates £1.98 in societal benefits.

“By uniting lived experience and workforce voices,” says Neil Gibson, “we want to foster collective problem-solving and a renewed commitment to rebuilding a trusted, sustainable and valued social care system.

“This can only happen when we stop managing scarcity and start investing in people and prevention.

“Care is not a cost to be measured, but a means to people in Scotland leading dignified lives.”

 

The three reports brought together today are

• Survey Analysis Report: Understanding the Impact of cuts and reductions to SDS Option 1 Budgets (direct payments) – Social Work Scotland and Scottish Association of Social Work analysis of a survey of social workers, written by social workers and academics Dr Gillian MacIntyre and Dr Ailsa E Stewart;
• The impact of Cuts to SDS Option 1 (direct payments) on disabled people and unpaid carers – Three Sisters Consultancy, National SDS Collaboration and Social Work Scotland – an analysis of the findings of a survey of disabled people and unpaid carers, written by Rhiann McLean of Three Sisters Consultancy, who is an unpaid carer and manages a direct payment;
• The State and Future of Social Work and Social Care in Scotland: A Comprehensive Analysis Framed by Lived Experience – Social Work Scotland, written by Laura Kerr, Head of Policy and Workforce, Social Work Scotland.

 

Read more: National developments for social work; SDS in practice ‘contradicts its aims’; Insight: the work of the benefits case manager;

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