The government doesn’t have a monopoly on tough choices – though it can make those made by people across Scotland a lot easier

I’ve been watching the pitch rolling on the Scottish Budget over recent days. Tough choices? Absolutely. But I have been disappointed to see social care not even get a mention.  

As the political noise increases today, we must remember that the government doesn’t have a monopoly on tough choices – though it has the power to make the tough choices made every day by people across Scotland a lot easier.  

For ordinary people, tough choices are getting tougher. This is what they look like: a family wondering how to get a parent out of hospital to avoid them getting frailer when no social care is available in the community.  

A person with a disability wondering which bit of basic dignity in life they should give up because their social care services are being cut.  

A family facing homelessness in hard times wondering how to get support and a safe home to look after their children when none is available.  

A person struggling with their mental health wondering how to cope when the threat of loss of support hangs over them every day.  

A support worker (most likely a low-paid woman) having to face the potential loss of income because the service they work in is being scaled back.  

This is the human face of tough choices when too little national prioritisation is given to investment in care and support. This support happens behind closed doors – support which underpins the very fabric of our society. It is done quietly, with dignity (and rightly so).  

But that means we need our politicians, more than ever, to speak up and make a noise so people get the support that any one of us might need tomorrow.  

“2026 can and must be the year where we make a rights-based, sustainable system of social care and support a reality in Scotland.”

I hope the absence of advance social care messaging is not an indicator of the tough choices this government is choosing to announce this afternoon. But if it is, things are about to get a whole lot tougher for the 1 in 23 people who need care and support, their families, and the paid staff in our sector.  

The Scottish Government has an opportunity this afternoon to signal a real step change in its approach to funding our sector. 2026 can and must be the year where we make a rights-based, sustainable system of social care and support a reality in Scotland. But for this vision to be realised, we need the right investment in the budget.