THE Scottish government kicked its plans to establish a national care service (NCS) into the long grass today, caving in after months of pressure from carers, councils, unions and opposition parties.
The plans to centralise social care in Scotland and substitute commissioning bodies for the remaining democratic oversight have long faced opposition from the Unison, GMB and Unite trade unions, which formally withdrew support in September, swiftly followed by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorties (Cosla).
In the last month, the STUC and the Scottish Greens have also pulled their critical support for the Bill, leaving the SNP with little chance of steering it through its second stage at Holyrood on November 26 and leaving Social Care Minister Maree Todd with the job of writing to the health, social care and sport committee on Wednesday to announce a pause until “the new year.”
Welcoming the move, STUC general secretary Roz Foyer condemned the “deeply flawed” legislation, stating: “It does nothing to address the key weaknesses within the current system — low pay, insecure conditions, chronic staff retention [problems] and a complete overdependence on highly financialised, profit-driven providers.
“The vision for a national system of care can be realised. We aspire to it.
“To do so, the Scottish government must meet us on that pathway, which includes paying our social care workers fairly and delivering a national care service designed for people, not for profit.”
Scottish Greens MSP Gillian Mackay said: “The government is right to be reconsidering the top-down reorganisation, which had already lost the support of trade unions and other key stakeholders.”
At First Minister’s Questions today, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar challenged First Minister John Swinney to ditch the plans altogether.
“So far, around £30 million has been wasted [on the NCS proposals] due to SNP incompetence,” he said.
“That could have funded one million hours of care at home. Instead, we have had years of chaos, delay, incompetence and waste.
“This process has been a shambles and a disgrace — three years, three health ministers and three first ministers on and nothing to show for it.”
The SNP leader hit back, saying: “The Labour Party’s manifesto in 2024 said they were supportive of the creation of a NCS.”
Ploughing on through opposition heckles of “not yours,” he added: “If that is what support for the creation of an NCS looks like, I’d hate to see what opposition to an NCS looks like.”
