While welcoming the continued commitment to short breaks for carers in the revised social care reform plans, Scotland’s leading carers organisations have raised concerns that they will “fall short” in addressing the critical issues facing unpaid carers.

Representatives from Carers Scotland and the Coalition of Carers in Scotland have praised cross-party support for plans to retain a right to breaks for unpaid carers in the heavily amended National Care Service Bill.

However, both point out that a lack of resources and accountability could hinder this right being realised.

Coalition of Carers in Scotland’s Partnership Development Officer, Shubhanna Hussain, told healthandcare.scot that she is particularly concerned about council’s lack of accountability in the delivery of existing legislation, including self-directed support.

She added:

“We remain deeply concerned that the recent changes to the Bill fall short of addressing the critical issues of under-resourcing in social care and the glaring lack of accountability and transparency highlighted by the Feeley Review.

“When the Bill was first consulted on in 2021, our members overwhelmingly backed the proposal for the Scottish government to take responsibility for social care in Scotland. This was never about centralising social care or a power grab from councils and IJBs.

“Carers shared with us their frustrations that councils were failing to uphold and protect their rights and those of the people they care for. They wanted councils and health and social care partnerships to be held accountable for failing to implement existing legislation, such as the Carers Scotland Act and the SDS legislation.

“Unfortunately, this Bill has been derailed by those unwilling to relinquish power and control, leaving people who rely on social care support to bear the brunt of these decisions.”

While significant swathes of the original National Care Service Bill have been scrapped, the proposed Care Reform (Scotland) Bill will still seek to establish a legal right to breaks for unpaid carers.

The Scottish government has also committed an additional £5m to supporting carers to take short breaks from caring responsibilities in among health and care in its 2025-26 budget.

Fiona Collie, Head of Public Affairs for Carers Scotland, highlighted the health and wellbeing benefits of breaks for carers.

She said that the reforms retained in the Bill, including enshrining Anne’s Law to ensure people living in care homes can see their loved ones and identify an essential care supporter, must recognise that carer support is not one-size-fits-all:

“We welcome that the reformed Bill continues to include the right to a break for unpaid carers and the commitment to deliver Anne’s Law.

“Having a break from caring is critical to maintain carers’ physical and mental health and there are clear links between access to breaks from caring, better health outcomes and prevention of care breakdown. Over a third of carers in our last report said that they had not had any break in the past year, often saying it is simply too difficult to get the breaks they desperately need.

“Delivering a right to a break is fundamental in ensuring that carers’ health and wellbeing is protected.

“However, national and local planning must also ensure that there are a sufficient number and variety of breaks available for carers to overcome barriers to access.”

She added that the charity welcomes the proposals put forward the cross-party support received so far, they hope that parties can now “come together to deliver those vital interventions”.

The Scottish parliament’s health, social care and sport committee continue with its line-by-line scrutiny of the National Care Service Bill and proposed amendments tomorrow.

The deadline for this process is 28 March.

Read more: Unpaid carer: Funding is vital to delivering care reform; UK social care plans chance to learn from Scotland; Carers facing full force of health and care crisis; Carers rights not yet a reality; Over a million unpaid carers going unsupported; Unpaid carers save Scottish economy NHS-scale costs; Number of carers grows by more than 25%