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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28 May 2024

2024-25 Priorities launched

We will focus our work on persuading decision-makers to ‘Recognise the true value of social care’. Today also sees the introduction of an updated logo and new animation, reflecting human stories and member voice

Today, following extensive engagement with members, stakeholders and staff over the past year, we launch our organisation Priorities for 2024-25.

Read our 2024-25 Priorities

We will be focusing our work on persuading decision-makers to ‘Recognise the true value of social care’, with an emphasis on four key areas:

  • Secure sustainable, equitable investment for not-for-profit providers of social care and support
  • Ensure the reform of social care and support realises people’s human rights
  • Advocate for the expertise of not-for-profit providers in shared planning and decision-making
  • Demonstrate the positive impact of valuing social care on lives and communities.

Rachel Cackett, CEO of CCPS, said:

“As we celebrate 25 years as a registered charity, these new Priorities will continue to build our collective voice moving towards the important point of the 2026 Holyrood elections.

“We look forward to using these Priorities as the framework for all our activities over the next 18 months, on behalf of our membership.”

“We will refresh our Priorities in autumn 2025 to ensure our messages are honed by our members for the greatest possible impact with the next Scottish Government.”

Today also marks a change in CCPS’s communication, with an updated logo emphasising a less corporate and more people-focused style, and an animation restating of our role as the voice of not-for-profit social care providers.

Later this week we’ll be sharing reflections from Board members about the contribution CCPS has made over the past 25 years.

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27 February 2024

“We won’t give up in our Fair Work calls”

Comment: Rachel Cackett responds to the passing of the 2024-25 Budget and its implications for not for profit social care providers

Responding to today’s Stage 3 debate in parliament and the passing of the 2024-25 Budget, Rachel Cackett, CEO of CCPS, said:

“Social care was conspicuous by its absence in the Budget debate this afternoon. We are deeply disappointed to see no movement on the £12ph pay announcement for our not-for-profit member organisations.

“Paying skilled social care staff no more than the Real Living Wage will continue to undermine recruitment and retention.

“Ultimately, this will have profoundly negative implications for people who need support and their carers, for the NHS, for our economy and for any aspiration of equality and opportunity.

“To CCPS members who have campaigned for better: a huge thank you, and we won’t give up in our calls for #FairWork.”

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13 February 2024

Rethink To 13 interview: “Our work deserves recognition. £13 an hour would be a step forward”

Continuing our campaign calling on the government to rethink its Budget, Dementia Care Worker Jacqui says that upping pay would ultimately improve the quality of care and support people receive

“I’m Jacqui, a Dementia Care Worker at the Mungo Foundation. Every day I see the impact that our staff have on the lives of the people we support and their families. Our work deserves recognition, appreciation and a fair wage. A wage of £13/hour would be a positive step in the right direction.

I have been working as a Dementia Care worker at Bankhall Court for over a decade. My role involves providing personalised care for individuals with dementia, focusing on enhancing their quality of life. Whether it’s personal care or emotional support and companionship, I approach every interaction with empathy and compassion that is tailored to their individual needs.

I believe that my contributions have been invaluable to the people I care for. My support and companionship make people feel valued and supported, positively impacting their overall wellbeing. Increasing my pay to £13 per hour would make a significant difference in my ability to provide even better care. It would alleviate financial stress, enabling me to focus on the needs of the people I support without distraction.

I hold multiple qualifications essential to providing high-quality care. However, I do not believe that my skills are adequately recognised in my current pay. £13 an hour would make a significant difference in people’s lives. It would allow our organisation to recruit more staff, alleviating the strain on the current workforce. Ultimately improving the quality of care and support that people receive.

It’s important to remember that around 90,000 people in Scotland have dementia, and two thirds of people with dementia live at home. By paying social care staff £13 an hour, the Scottish Government can ensure that people are receiving the high-quality care that they deserve.”

Find out more about the Mungo Foundation

Read about our Rethink To 13 campaign

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8 February 2024

‘It’s time to Rethink to 13’: MSP briefing published for stage 1 debate on Budget

We’ve produced a briefing for MSPs on Fair Work for Scotland’s social care staff, with an explanation of why the Scottish Government must now reconsider pay for social care staff

We’ve produced a briefing for MSPs on Fair Work for Scotland’s social care staff, with an explanation of why the Scottish Government must now Rethink To 13.

Download and read the briefing

The briefing was sent to a targeted list of MSPs ahead of today’s Stage 1 Debate on the 2024-25 Budget at Holyrood.

It features suggested questions to ask in the chamber on Thursday, key facts and stats on social care pay, and evidence from our current #RethinkTo13 campaign.

The Stage 1 debate on the budget is being held in a period of crisis for the social care sector, with provider organisations increasingly unable to recruit and retain staff due to lack of Fair Work.

As we reported last year, an average of 52% of staff who moved jobs in 2022 left the social care sector altogether (2022 Social Care Benchmarking Report).

Through the Rethink To 13 campaign we’re sharing stories from support workers in the sector about what a pay increase to a minimum of £13 per hour would mean to them and its positive impact on services and people receiving support.

A final debate on the 2024-25 Budget is due to be held at the end of February before it is passed by parliament.

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24 January 2024

Rethink To 13 interview: “Who looks after my mental health, while I look after others?” 

As part of our campaign calling for the government to rethink pay commitments in the 2024-25 Budget, Partners for Inclusion Support Practitioner Natalie tells us about the impact a wage increase could have

“I have been a support practitioner for 20 years and in that time a lot has changed. My role has become increasingly more complex with many new health and social care skills to learn. However, one thing that hasn’t changed over time is the unfair rate of pay!

Compared to others with similar skill sets and responsibilities like teaching assistants, community support and NHS care assistants, support practitioners work the last 3.5 months of the year for nothing. That is how big the pay gap is!

I work with someone who experiences poor mental health and since the pandemic and Brexit we have struggled to recruit support practitioners. This has an impact on me and the person I support.

People’s mental health deteriorated during Covid and as a result our workload has increased.

This has meant working longer hours and often missing days off and not having as much time as we would like to attend to our own mental health and self-care. This has an effect on the relationships I have with my family and friends because at times there are just not enough hours in the week.

Having a fairer rate of pay would encourage people into the sector and retain the staff we have and as a result there would be less people suffering from burn-out and sickness.

One in 6.8 people experience mental health problems in the workplace and evidence shows that 12.7% of all sickness is attributed to mental ill health.

Having a fairer pay rate would mean I have time and money to look after myself and in turn mean I would be in an even better position to ensure supported people live their lives to the full.”

Partners for Inclusion is an independent charity providing individualised support for people with learning disabilities and/or mental health services. Find out more.

Visit our campaigns page for more information on Rethink To 13.

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5 December 2023

Future engagement on FOI “needs to include all social care providers”

Our CEO responds to the Scottish Government’s move to delay a full consultation on access to information rights

The Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) has welcomed the Scottish Government’s decision not to extend Freedom of Information legislation to cover third sector organisations, including all not-for-profit social care providers.

The government now plans instead to consult on the extension of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act to private and third sector providers of care homes and care-at-home services.

However, the consultation will not proceed until after the National Care Service Bill has been passed, it announced last week. The move follows a consultation on access to information rights in Scotland launched a year ago.

Commenting in response, CCPS’s CEO Rachel Cackett said:

“Right now, every single day, not-for-profit providers of care and support are struggling. They face massive holes in available public service funding, a crisis in staffing, and too little resource to meet need in our communities, which only increases as the cost-of-living crisis worsens.

“So a full, detailed, engagement with social care providers – from the largest to the smallest – to work out the best and most proportionate way to implement any changes to FOI duties so that new demands do not reduce services, but can support people’s access to information, is right.

“But it is also right to delay the consultation for now and we welcome the Scottish Government’s announcement.

“We have to remember that FOI legislation was not written for our sector of diverse providers, and so any changes need to be made with us or it simply won’t work as intended.”

During the 2016 to 2021 session of the Scottish Parliament, the Public Audit and Post-Legislative Scrutiny Committee reviewed existing FOI legislation. The Scottish Government responded to the Committee’s report on 25 February 2021.

Read the Scottish Government’s response to the access to information rights consultation

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4 December 2023

Comment: “Social care could be the gift that keeps on giving for Scotland. But only if the government rethinks its budget”

Marking the launch of our new Rethink To 13 campaign, Rachel Cackett argues that £12 p/h for staff is too low, is ethically wrong, and flies in the face of what Scotland need to enjoy equality, opportunity and community

On the 19th December, during the last week of 2023 for the Scottish Parliament, the government will publish its draft budget.

In unprecedented times, we are hoping for something a bit different from this budget.

For years now, there have been calls for the Scottish Government to be far more transparent in setting out how its draft budget is intended to match investment to its stated priorities. This is a primary task of government: To ensure that funds raised from the public are invested in the things the democratically elected government has told us are important.

And when things are tight, justifying the allocation of too few resources to those things that a government says matters most is more important than ever.

So, perhaps the government can do something different this year.

The first minister has stated that all funding decisions must deliver against three things:

  1. Equality, by tackling poverty and protecting people from harm during the cost-of-living crisis
  2. Opportunity through a fair, green and growing wellbeing economy that can support improved living standards, reduce poverty, and sustain high quality public services, and
  3. Community by prioritising public services – building sustainability and reducing inequality.

So, perhaps we can expect the budget to be structured to show clearly how decisions to invest – and disinvest – will deliver these.

Perhaps, for example, we will see a commitment to the funding of sustainable social care services that support families facing poverty or destitution in the current financial climate to stay afloat, to keep a home, to feed their families and keep children in school.

Or to services that support disabled people, or people with long term health conditions – who face a myriad of daily inequities – to maintain their right to independent living and stay well in their own homes.

Or to mental health services that help prevent adults and children reaching crisis – and stop yet more people waiting too long for NHS services that just aren’t there – so that they can live connected, engaged lives as participants in work, school, family and community.

Or to the availability of social care and support for everyone who needs it so that unpaid carers can maintain jobs that can keep their families afloat.

Or to those staff in our sector, overwhelmingly women, who provide care and support to some of the most vulnerable members of my family and yours – but are paid far less than those in the public sector to do equivalent jobs simply because the government doesn’t provide enough funds.

Staff who may often work – and spend their wages – in the communities they support. Staff who are often working part time to juggle their unpaid caring responsibilities.   Staff who desperately need equality, opportunity and community.

You see, social care and support – ever the Cinderella of public service investment – could be the FM’s answer this Christmas. It could be the gift that keeps on giving; the glue that binds his priorities to effective investment. But it’s only possible with a workforce to deliver it.

And there’s the issue.

Half the people who moved jobs in our sector last year left social care altogether. And the unethical approach to embedding pay inequity into public service delivery means staff continue to leave and social care isn’t always there when you, or I, or our loved ones need it.

The FM has already imposed a £12 p/h pay deal for social care and support staff in our sector next year and, sadly, we expect to see this confirmed in the draft Budget on 19 December. But this won’t help the government meet its own budget priorities; it will undermine them.

So, Scottish Government, rethink your budget.

Investing at the very least £13 p/h in 2024-25 for all social care staff in our sector is the absolute minimum that will cut it – and that only as a first step in a plan to reach parity in pay.

£12 is too low; it’s ethically wrong; and it flies in the face of what you’ve told us it matters to invest in and what many people in Scotland need to enjoy equality, opportunity and community.

Please. Rethink your budget.

#RethinkTo13

Find out more about the campaign here.

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