The Chief Executive of Scottish Care, the organisation representing independent social care providers, has written an open letter to the three people vying to become the next First Minister, asking them how much they really value social care both in terms of its workforce and its organisations.

In his ‘Dear Next First Minister of Scotland’ letter, sent at the end of National Carers’ week, Donald Macaskill says, amidst a campaign full of rhetoric and promises, the men and women working in social care deserve to know what plans each candidate for the role of First Minister has for social care should they win election.

Dr Macaskill asks:

“Will you find monies as you did for the teachers and our NHS colleagues or do social care staff not count in the same way and are somehow lower down on the scale of value? So please tweet, speak or announce what your plans for social care are.”

He Macaskill says frontline carers “model the best of who we are as a society” and Scotland’s leaders must treat social care staff with dignity, respect, and value.

“Yet sadly,” he adds in the letter, “that is not what we have been hearing in the days since we started our campaign.

“We are instead hearing from workers who are contemplating leaving the sector because they have been told that all they are worth is £10.90 an hour which is as you know is nearly 20% less than someone doing the same job in the NHS. It doesn’t much feel to them that there is value and respect.

“We are hearing that the lack of fair contracts and low levels of resource are stopping employers from offering better terms and conditions, including secure salaries to frontline workers.

“We are hearing that people are exhausted and tired because they continue to face so many challenges and risks to their health, yet they do not have the protections that others have. We are hearing of dedicated skilled individuals growing weary that years of promise and  declared priority have come to nothing.”

Nearly 80,000 members of the SNP are today being sent emails to allow them to take part in the online ballot to choose between the three candidates: Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and Humza Yousaf.

Finance Secretary Kate Forbes has said that, if elected SNP leader and First Minister, she is committed to raising the minimum hourly wage for care staff to £15. Meanwhile, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf – and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon – have both said they believe that is unaffordable within the current budget restraints.

For her part, Ash Regan has said that, if elected, she would immediately pause the national care service to allow for wider consultation on the proposals, which she says she is committed to.

Read more: Don’t let social care ‘sink back to the shadows’; Ministers launch ‘more to care’ campaign; Social care wage settlement branded ‘derisory’;  Editorial: A resolution for social care; 

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