2 December 2024

It’s time to give the gift of Fair Pay…

As we enter Budget season, we’ve launched a campaign urging Scottish Government to invest in the workforce and cover the costs of the NI rise

Social care staff deliver vital public services in communities across Scotland, and they should be paid more than the minimum it costs to live.

They are working in a context where public sector cuts, lack of Fair Work and impending changes to Employers’ National Insurance are risking the viability of many services.

So we’ve launched a campaign urging the Scottish Government to give them More Than Warm Words this winter.

For the 2025-26 Budget we’re calling on them to:

  • Take a genuine first step towards the promise of Fair Work. Invest in our people by committing to the Real Living Wage + 10% in 2025-26, as the minimum for all frontline support staff. Stop the loss of essential workers
  • Cover the full costs of ongoing eNICs changes for not-for-profit social care providers, even if Westminster won’t. Otherwise, watch services disappear, unemployment rise, unmet need increase and the NHS crisis worsen.

Across the Scottish Budget period, we’ll be sharing messages and videos from our members in support of the campaign.

We’ve sent our members, and parliamentarians, a mug emblazoned with the campaign message.

And we’ll be calling on MSPs to speak up for the social care workforce and help give them the gift of Fair Pay.

Read the Budget briefing we sent MSPs

Read our press release about the letter we sent the Chancellor on NI

Follow the campaign on our social channels with #MoreThanWarmWords

For more information about the campaign and how to take part, email of Communications & Engagement team: comms@ccpscotland.org

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29 November 2024

Media Release: Over 80 Scottish social care leaders sign letter urging Chancellor to change course on National Insurance

Our members have supported a CCPS letter to Rachel Reeves urging her to provide relief on increased NI bills

“This policy will not save public services. It will crush them”

More than 80 not-for-profit social care organisations have signed a letter from the Coalition of Care & Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) to the Chancellor urging her to provide relief on increased Employers’ National Insurance bills for them as providers of crucial public services.

Read the letter to the Chancellor

The letter, from CCPS members, makes clear the devastating impact the policy would have on organisations providing social care, and on people receiving support.

CCPS estimates that not-for-profit social care providers will face an additional bill in the region of £30 million next year to cover both the NI rate increase and the threshold reduction – money that providers do not have, and have no means to raise.

The signatory organisations span all aspects of not-for-profit provision in Scotland for adults, children and young people.

Rachel Cackett, CEO of the Coalition of Care & Support Providers in Scotland, said:

“As the representative voice for the sector, and on behalf of our community of providers, we’ve written to the Chancellor to make absolutely clear the existential threat this policy poses to not-for-profit social care, and the wider consequences it would have.

“The relief apparently being offered by the Chancellor to the public sector quite simply fails to recognise the reality of contemporary public services. Our providers deliver public services, largely through publicly funded contracts with the public sector.

“The eNIC policy is being introduced at a time when social care providers are already at extreme risk. In March this year, over 80% of our members who responded to a survey told us they were delivering public contracts despite a deficit budget.

“And as our letter states, these pressures are not limited to Scotland; the effects of long-standing under-investment in support services are being felt across the UK. Social care is pared to the bone.

“How can the UK Government claim that those with the broadest shoulders should pay more when this policy will impact not-for-profit organisations supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our society?”

“Services cannot continue if they are not financially viable. This policy will impact jobs – particularly for women – and risk the loss of crucial community-based provision for people who desperately need more well-resourced, rights-based, accessible, quality support.”

She added:

“We urge the Chancellor to provide relief at source to providers, with a recognition that not doing so will devastate public services, including those provided by the senior leaders who have signed this letter – services which  are central to the UK Government’s ambitions.”

(ends)

Rachel Cackett is available for media interviews today (Friday 29th November).
Senior leaders from organisations in CCPS’s membership will also be available by request.

Media contacts: Chris Small chris.small@ccpscotland.org
and Anna Tully anna.tully@ccpscotland.org


Notes for editors

CCPS is the voice of the not-for-profit social care providers in Scotland. Our vision is for people and communities to thrive with the support of a rights-based, sustainable system of social care and support.

More information here.

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14 November 2024

Through a glass darkly: the progress of a National Care Service

Our CEO Rachel Cackett responds to the latest news about the NCS Bill

Ah, the irony.

Today CCPS was to publish its proposals for amendments to the National Care Service Bill. It’s later than we’d have liked because it’d been hard to know what we are attempting to amend. Is it the Bill that was laid, which has been completely overtaken by events; or the proposals for an amended Bill, which the Government published in June – including a shared accountability agreement that has been blown out the water – but which can’t technically be amended, because it’s not an actual bill?

You see our dilemma?

But we’ve done our best because, if the Scottish Parliament has decided to take the Bill this far we have a duty to do all we can to make it work for our social care provider members, their staff and ultimately the people they support.

Then this morning the news broke: the Bill is scrapped… or perhaps bits of it are scrapped…. or perhaps none if it is scrapped but just delayed while it’s re-written again.

So here we are.

In the meantime, far too many people who need support can’t get it, providers are seeing budgets cut, and now we are staring into the face of catastrophic changes to Employers’ National Insurance Contributions.

Ever since Derek Feeley published the Independent Review of Adult Social Care we have been clear: our sector desperately needs reform and we will do all we can to collaborate with government and anyone else who can effect good change. CCPS members have the experience and expertise to help. It’s not always been easy to be heard.

But our commitment remains – and we will still publish our ideas on the Bill as a marker of the commitment (see links below) – but I now make a heartfelt plea.

We’ve been attempting to inform and improve this Bill for nearly three years while at the same time trying to support members through an ever-increasing real-time crisis. So, my plea is for clarity and a shared purpose across the political spectrum as we head towards the 2026 election.

There are many routes to positive reform – and an a much-improved NCS Bill may be one of them.

But either give us the timescales for legislative change and a space for our voice to shape collective reform, or look at alternatives to the current Bill and let us get on with those. Political wrangling, backroom deals and power-struggles for another 18 months won’t help the people who any NCS is meant to be for – the people across Scotland who really need well-resourced, rights-based, accessible, quality support.

Those of us trying to keep a woefully under-resourced sector afloat for the people who need it need more than the hope of reform; we need to know that something better is really coming our way.

Read our Briefing on Priority Areas of Focus for Amendments to the NCS Bill at Stage 2

Read our Thematic Assessment of the Alignment of Principles to Underpin a National Care Service

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31 October 2024

“Civic society – and the people it serves – must be respected as an equal partner in public service”

CCPS CEO Rachel Cackett responds to the UK Government’s budget, commenting on its implications for our members

So. The budget.

As the dust settles and we all get our head around the implications of Rachel Reeves’ speech, what’s emerging is a pretty mixed picture – but one issue is causing deep consternation among the not-for-profit providers of social care I represent.

But let’s start with two positives – albeit qualified positives.

Overall, the austerity message has been very slightly tempered by some positive, discrete changes, such as revisions to Universal Credit debt deductions (though the two child cap remains, of course). But there are department cuts to come, pressures on benefits and on other areas which will put significant pressure on family finances.

The news of an increase to the Scottish block grant this year and next is, of course, incredibly welcome. Now we need to see the Scottish Government make some wise choices and focus on the sectors that will actually help it deliver its own priorities before the 2026 election. In a week in which local headlines in the Scottish capital are writing large the perilous position of third sector organisations in our integrated health and care sector, the urgency of this couldn’t be clearer.

We want to see a fair, progressive settlement for social care and support in the 2025-26 Scottish Budget. The government needs this for a healthy civic society and economy.  It needs a healthy social care sector to stop the NHS falling over any further (as I know many NHS leaders recognise). The government needs a well-resourced social care sector to deliver on the rights-based society it has promised citizens. And at the heart of this is a much-needed fair wage settlement for staff, so CCPS providers have a hope of recruiting and retaining the skilled people needed to deliver crucial support to people and families. Talk to us and our partners about directing additional service-focused funds to best effect. We can help make it work.

And this brings me to my final point.

CCPS members are not-for-profit organisations delivering public services, mostly funded by the public purse. Yet it seems – though this is all a bit murky just now – that the relief being proposed for the public sector for the hike in employers’ National Insurance does not extend to the charities I represent. Messages of panic started coming to me almost as soon as the Chancellor sat down. CCPS members are already seeing swathing cuts to funding that was already too little; these are organisations where over 80% have reported delivering public services on deficit budgets. Ultimately, this means that fewer of the most vulnerable people in our society receive the services they need, and human and financial costs rack up.

Adding the double whammy announcement yesterday of increased employer NI contributions and a reduction in the NI threshold will be catastrophic for CCPS members and many other charities, unless some form of exemption is set or contracts are increased to fully fund the policy.

So this is a plea to both the Chancellor and Scottish Ministers. Please, please work together now to ensure that a social care sector that is already at breaking point is not sunk by baking in inequities in the application of NI relief.

Let’s not see the increased block grant – that could do so much – having to be eaten up by reversing the negative impact of this NI policy. Civic society – and the people it serves – must be respected as an equal partner in public service.

Because let’s be honest: you really can’t afford not to, and nor can the people in our communities who need support.

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8 October 2024

Research highlights ‘uneven landscape’ of social care commissioning and procurement

Two new reports published by CCPS today explores current context and shares ideas for improvement

Two reports published by CCPS today examine the current reality of commissioning and procurement of adult social care (ASC) support and services in Scotland.

The first report, by Professor Stephen Gibb, brings together the results of a scoping literature review of published evidence on ethical commissioning, summarising the context for strategic planning, commissioning and procurement of ASC in Scotland.

Written by Professor Anne Hendry, the accompanying study presents the results of qualitative interviews with a sample of national and local stakeholders involved in commissioning and procurement of ASC support and services.

Together, the research makes clear the complexity and contradictions of adult social care policy, funding, regulation, planning, commissioning, procurement and service delivery.

Drawing on views from a range of interviewees, Professor Hendry’s report shares ideas for improvement, including on the role of Integrated Joint Boards.

Reflecting on what she had heard as part of the study, Professor Hendry said:

“It was a privilege to learn from the experience of people directly involved in commissioning adult social care support and services across Scotland. Commissioners and providers alike called for simpler processes that enable more collaborative commissioning.

“There was a strong sense that this need not, and indeed cannot, wait for new legislation or new structure and it was refreshing to hear what can be achieved now with a strong focus on value and outcomes.

“However, sustainable change requires investment in the social care workforce supported by collaborative leadership, culture and relational practice that respects place and rebalances power.”

Professor Gibb highlighted the distinctive nature of commissioning and procurement in social care and the need to support innovation. He said:

“There are big gaps in the literature, recognising that in principles and practice the commissioning and procurement of social care is distinctive and different from other kinds of purchaser-provider relations.

“Changes like ethical commissioning may bring fresh impetus to better connect and channel the strategic intents of purchasers, local and national government with service providers. Enablers of change need to be identified, for fair funding of collaborations which give the right providers the resources they need for enabling services that matter and their improvement.”

Welcoming publication of the research, CCPS’s CEO Rachel Cackett said:

“At a time of intense debate about reform of social care, these reports provide our members, the wider sector and parliamentarians with valuable insight into the uneven landscape of commissioning and procurement in 2024.

“Having an overview of current guidance and hearing from a spectrum of stakeholders about their experiences helps to strengthen our understanding of the degree of inequity in the system, and what improvement could achieve.”

The research was conducted on behalf of CCPS between March and June 2024, in advance of the publication by the Scottish Government of its draft amendments to Stage 2 of the National Care Service (NCS) Bill.

It builds on previous related publications by CCPS, including a series of interviews with representatives of third sector providers about the viability and future of ethical commissioning and procurement.

Stephen Gibb is Professor of Human Resource and Organisation Development at the University of the West of Scotland.

Anne Hendry is Senior Associate, International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC), Director, IFIC Scotland and Honorary Professor, University of the West of Scotland.

Read report 1: ‘From strategic intent to procurement of adult social care and support in Scotland: Literature Review’, by Professor Stephen Gibb.

Read report 2: ‘From strategic intent to procurement of adult social care and support in Scotland: Analysis of current experience and ideas for improvement’, by Professor Anne Hendry.

The reports were produced by CCPS’s Commissioning and Procurement programme through funding from the Scottish Government.

 

 

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24 September 2024

‘Welcome focus on rights and people, but government’s winter plan will meet hard reality’

CCPS’s CEO Rachel Cackett responds to today’s publication of the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Preparedness Plan 2024-25

Responding to publication today of the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Winter Preparedness Plan 2024-25, CCPS’s CEO Rachel Cackett said:

“We welcome an emphasis on people and rights at the start of the Scottish Government’s Winter Preparedness Plan, published today. We are also encouraged to see that our members – not for profit social care providers working in communities throughout Scotland – are acknowledged as an integral, vital part of the system.

“It’s true that the Scottish government cannot address the crisis in our sector effectively, and ensure people who need support can have their rights upheld, without finding shared solutions in partnership with us.

“However, we are concerned that the plan does not capture the reality of what is taking place on the ground and the experiences reported by our members on a daily basis, particularly around the absence of progress on delivery of Fair Work. We are also concerned that some solutions listed won’t be ready to deliver improvements for people this winter.

“In the depths of last winter, 82% of CCPS members who responded to a survey described service demand as ‘high’ or ‘extremely high’, with referrals well beyond capacity to respond. By the end of last winter, 83% of responding members stated they were providing a public service despite a deficit budget.

“Since then many of our members report an ever greater squeeze on the budgets they are given to provide a public service for the people of Scotland.

“Despite all this, the word ‘investment’ is completely missing from the publication. For providers already struggling with capacity and a lack of funding to meet people’s needs, this is a stark omission – and makes it hard to see how this plan will address the social care crisis for people before winter starts.”

Read the plan here

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5 September 2024

Tracking Real Living Wage on pay ‘disrespects professional workforce and will not advance government’s other commitments’

Our CEO Rachel Cackett responds to yesterday’s publication of the 2024-25 Programme for Government

Responding to yesterday’s publication of the 2024-25 Programme for Government, our CEO Rachel Cackett said:

“We welcome and acknowledge the First Minister’s pledge in the Programme for Government to eradicate child poverty and the priority given to this. We urge him to ensure that the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund is aligned to delivery of The Promise, previous commitments to funding are kept, and for the government to work with the sector to ensure this is achieved.”

“What about progress on pay and Fair Work for the sector though? We were incredibly surprised to not hear the First Minister mention social care at all in his speech to parliament. Deep in the full text of the Programme for Government the document mentions prioritising funding in 2024-25 in order to:

‘increase the pay of workers in adult social care who are delivering direct care in commissioned services, early learning and childcare workers delivering funded hours, and children’s social care workers, so that they are paid at least the Real Living Wage from April 2025’.

“We are extremely disappointed that, despite having signed up to the recommendations of 2019’s Fair Work in Social Care Report, the Scottish Government still appears to believe that, on sector pay for those in not-for-profit organisations, tracking the Real Living Wage and no more is sufficient. It is not.

“The reality is that this approach disrespects a professional, regulated workforce and will do nothing to advance the government’s other stated commitments on growing the economy, ensuring high quality and sustainable public services, and reducing poverty.

“On 10 July, we wrote to the First Minister challenging the Scottish Government to fund a fair 2025-26 pay deal for staff in our sector who deliver public services to the people of Scotland.

“We presented compelling evidence from our members about current intolerable pressures on not-for-profit social care, and explained why investing in the sector would mean investment in a whole-system solution. And we made the case for investment in staff – mostly women – to take forward the Fair Work agenda and value their contribution to communities across Scotland.

“We have yet to receive a reply, but yesterday’s announcement tells us that provider organisations, care and support workers in our not-for-profit social care sector – and most of all – people who need care and support continue to be overlooked in the government’s plans.”

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8 August 2024

Call for views on Stage 2 of NCS Bill extended

Following a joint letter from partners including CCPS the deadline for submissions to the consultation is now 20th September

Following a jointly written letter to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee from a range of partners in the sector, including CCPS, the submission date for views on the changed NCS Bill has been extended to the 20th of September.

Signatories include member organisations and representatives, and people with lived experience.

The welcomed deadline extension allows for sufficient time to consider the significant proposed changes to the National Care Service Bill.

The form to submit your views can be found here.

Responding to the news, our CEO Rachel Cackett said:

“We are delighted to see the committee extend the deadline for responses following a sector wide request. This change allows vital time for organisations to consider the amendments proposed.

“We are in unchartered water with this Bill and the scale of draft changes mean more time is needed to consider implications for reform. CCPS looks forward to submitting an evidenced and constructive response to the call for views.”

More details on the stage 2 amendments can be found here.

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26 July 2024

Staffing crisis deepens as 81% of providers report recruitment needs as higher or same as previous year

Almost two-thirds of not-for-profit social care organisations have increased recruitment spend but vacancy rates remain unsustainably high, according to new research out today

Almost two-thirds of not-for-profit social care organisations have increased recruitment spend but vacancy rates remain unsustainably high, according to new research published today. 

Responses captured in the 2023 Social Care Benchmarking Report demonstrate the scale of sector-wide sustainability issues, with serious recruitment, retention and staffing challenges persisting.

The report reveals that, across 2022-23, 95% of organisations found it either ‘very difficult’ or ‘quite difficult’ to recruit frontline staff.

The top three reasons for recruitment difficulties were ‘pay levels’, ‘too few applications’ and ‘local competitors’ such as retail.

The Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) and the HR Not-for-Profit Sector Forum (HRNFPSF) commissioned the University of Strathclyde to conduct the benchmarking survey and analysis for member organisations.

The Executive Summary of the report is published today and available to download here.

The study also found:

  • Just over one-third of respondents (33%) reported an increase in the number of agency workers used in the last 12 months.
  • Frontline posts remain the most difficult to fill, with 95% of respondents experiencing difficulties in recruiting operations staff. This was followed by managers (64%) and supervisors and administrative support (27%).
  • Two-thirds of respondents had an overspend on recruitment in relation to their predicted recruitment budget. Reasons for this included: subscriptions to recruitment websites and targeted advertising; high turnover meaning more adverts required; costs of PVGs; increased recruitment activity given volume of vacancies and severity of recruitment difficulties; greater need to use more paid recruitment sites, particularly for HR and finance staff; and readvertisement.

Rachel Cackett, Chief Executive of CCPS, said:

“The findings of the survey again demonstrate the immense challenges faced by not-for-profit social care providers in recruiting and retaining the staff needed to ensure consistent, quality support for everyone who needs it. The evidence is part of a bigger picture of a sector under intense pressure.

“Yesterday’s report from Audit Scotland on the finances and performance of Scotland’s Integrated Joint Boards highlighted that providers are doing everything they can, with a driven and committed workforce, but that their hands are tied.

“Faced with competition from other sectors who pay more and a government that sets the base wage, they are unable to increase pay to retain staff and ensure consistency for people who need support.

“If providers are to be part of a system that is resilient to the kind of pressures that will be faced through the coming winter, the Scottish Government must take action on Fair Work and make its choice absolutely clear in September’s Programme for Government.”

“The First Minister has prioritised reducing delayed hospital discharge. But a limited focus on this will do little to address wider dysfunction in our integrated health and social care system that this survey, Audit Scotland’s report, and evidence from our members, confirms.”

Kevin Staunton, Chair of the HR Not-For-Profit Sector Forum, said:

“I would like thank all our members who were able to participate in the survey. Last year I commented that it would be great to see positive progress become a reality after years of warm words about parity of esteem for the sector, the people who employ and the people we support.

“This report shows in stark terms the increasing challenges that organisations face in recruiting new candidates and retaining a good quality workforce in the face of continued threats to the funding of vital services, and in the disparity in pay between the work undertaken by the sector and like for like work / roles being provided by local authority providers and the NHS.

“It highlights key measures to ensure the survival of the not-for-profit sector, meet these aspirations and fulfil the hopes of our dedicated and values-led workforce. Our Forum members invite you to read the report and we extend an open invitation to work with others to make our aims a reality.”

(ends)

Media contacts:

Chris Small: chris.small@ccpscotland.org / Anna Tully: anna.tully@ccpscotland.org

Notes

The headline figure of 81% comprises 43% of respondents reporting their recruitment needs were higher than in the previous year and 38% of respondents stating recruitment needs were the same as last year. This reflects that, for more than one-third of respondents, their recruitment needs stayed consistently high.

The HR Not-for-Profit Sector Forum (HRNFPSF) and Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) commissioned the University of Strathclyde to conduct the benchmarking survey and analysis for member organisations.

With thanks to the team at the University of Strathclyde’s Department of Work, Employment & Organisation and their colleagues at the universities of St Andrews and Middlesex.

The study involved 22 participant organisations. 55% of respondents provided adult social care, 23% identified their function as ‘other’, and 14% were primarily engaged in housing support.

CCPS is the voice of the not-for-profit social care providers in Scotland.

HRNFPSF is a CIPD special interest group of third sector organisations and individuals. The Forum supports practice and information sharing alongside commissioning research relevant to the third sector workforce to inform and influence national decision-making.

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17 July 2024

Right language ‘key to recruiting qualified social care staff’, new report finds  

Terminology in job descriptions and recruitment materials is crucial in attracting qualified social care professionals, according to a new study

A new report from CCPS explores the use of language and narrative in recruitment processes within the not-for-profit social care and support sector.

Choice of language in job descriptions and recruitment materials is crucial in attracting qualified social care professionals, according to 96% of respondents surveyed as part of the research.

The study aims to improve recruitment process outcomes through defining language that attracts a pool of candidates who are well suited to roles on offer. 

The report also offers recommendations to provider organisations and highlights key findings from survey and focus group research.  

Download the publication here (condensed version)

Taking a sector-wide approach, it recognises the current recruitment challenges while acknowledging the strides made in using language that can resonate with potential candidates. 

There has been a concerted effort to move away from overly technical or jargon-heavy descriptions towards clear, accessible terminology that accurately represents roles and expectations.  

But during a time of recruitment crisis, the report finds more needs to be done to inform candidates of the opportunities a career in social care can offer.  

Welcoming publication of the report, Kristy Lambert, CCPS’s Policy & Projects Officer – Workforce, said:  

“CCPS is grateful to everyone who took part in this study. Their participation allows for relevant and important research to be produced in the hope of improving the outcomes of recruitment within the sector. 

“We hope the report offers organisations ideas for implementation within their own language of recruitment and that its findings are useful.” 

The report looks across a variety of themes including job descriptions, emphasis on career development, job requirements such as emotional intelligence and soft skills, job benefits, inclusivity and diversity in language, streamlining application processes and more.   

The publication was researched and produced by CCPS’s Workforce Programme, which is funded by the Scottish Government.

Read the condensed version of the report

Read the full version of the report

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