Social Care Reform in Scotland: context, cost and questions

The Fraser of Allander Institute has today published a detailed briefing on the National Care Service Bill. The analysis undertaken to produce the work was carried out with funding from CCPS.

The Independent Review of Adult Social Care called for a ‘paradigm shift’ in our thinking about funding social care from financial burden to investment. Following the review, the Scottish Government introduced proposals to create the National Care Service.

CCPS funded the Fraser of Allander Institute to undertake this work to enable us to understand the cost implications for providers, the people who work for them and the people they support, and the potential impact of future investment.

Rachel Cackett, Chief Executive of CCPS, said:

“The proposals in the National Care Service Bill represent the most ambitious piece of public service reform to be undertaken since the creation of the Scottish Parliament – in terms of both scale and complexity.

The Bill in its current form raises significant questions which remain to be answered about the affordability of a National Care Service and the investment required to sustain it in the long term.

This first briefing from the Fraser of Allander Institute, produced with CCPS funding, provides vital expert commentary at a critical moment. We hope it will be of value to everyone involved in considering Stage 1 of the National Care Service Bill and the efficacy of the Scottish Government’s proposals.”

CCPS is the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland.

Our mission is to identify, represent, promote and safeguard the interests of third
sector and not-for-profit social care and support providers in Scotland, so that they
can maximise the impact they have on meeting social need.

CCPS membership comprises over 90 of the most substantial care and support
providers in Scotland’s third sector, providing high quality support in the areas of
community care for adults with disabilities and for older people, youth and criminal
justice, addictions, homelessness, and children’s services and family support.

FAI – Social Care Reform in Scotland

Annex A – Summary of Scottish Government research and analysis of the NCS

Annex B – Replicating the costs presented in the Independent Review of Adult Social Care

Annex C – Financial Memorandum – National Care Service

CCPS is committed to the transformation of social care and now that
the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill is published we look forward to
discussing the detail with the Scottish Government and other partners
over the coming months. We support the decision of the Scottish
Government to consult further on the inclusion of children’s services and
justice services – our members will be active contributors to that debate.
There is much to admire about the aspirations set out in the bill, which
include a commitment to human rights, to fair work, early intervention
and coproduction. The realisation of these will require substantial
financial investment and cultural change alongside legislative change.

The legislation in itself will not transform social care. That is down to the
people who work in the sector, the people who commission and fund
services, and the people supported by social care. This is a sector
founded on human relationships and unless we see fundamental cultural
change in the quality of those relationships, we fear this wider
endeavour will fail. To that end, we are calling on the Scottish
Government and other partners to work together constructively to bring
into being a system and structure for social care and support based on
respect, partnership and collaboration. That work needs to commence
straight away.

NOTES:
CCPS is the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland.
Our mission is to identify, represent, promote and safeguard the interests of third
sector and not-for-profit social care and support providers in Scotland, so that they
can maximise the impact they have on meeting social need.
CCPS membership comprises over 90 of the most substantial care and support
providers in Scotland’s third sector, providing high quality support in the areas of
community care for adults with disabilities and for older people, youth and criminal
justice, addictions, homelessness, and children’s services and family support.

Download this statement as a pdf.

CCPS is delighted to announce that Rachel Cackett will be joining the organisation as its new Chief Executive in July. Rachel succeeds Annie Gunner Logan who stepped down as Chief Executive at the end of April after 24 years. 

Rachel will join CCPS from Samaritans where she has worked as Executive Director for Scotland since January 2020. At Samaritans she has worked with volunteers, staff, partners and people with lived experience to build the charity’s Scottish presence, secure a new self-harm strategy, and shape recommendations for suicidal crisis support. 

Prior to joining Samaritans, Rachel worked in the Scottish health and care sector for 20 years with campaign and policy roles at Shelter, RVS and the RCN, where she led the organisation’s work on integration, NHS finance and safe staffing legislation. 

Welcoming Rachel’s appointment, Andrea Wood, Convenor of the CCPS Board of Trustees said: 

“We are absolutely delighted to be welcoming Rachel to CCPS as Chief Executive. She will bring considerable knowledge and experience to the role at a critical moment for social care in Scotland. Her insight and intelligence will be invaluable as we approach the many challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.” 

Commenting on her appointment, Rachel said. 

“At such a pivotal moment for social care in Scotland, I’m delighted to be joining CCPS as Chief Executive.  So much has been done by Annie Gunner Logan and the team to inspire positive, much needed, change for social care rooted in collaboration, equity and human rights.” 

“The Feeley review clearly built on that hope in the sector. Now, as the National Care Service takes shape – and the impact of COVID continues – I’m ready to get to work with CCPS members and staff, those using services, and wider partners to build collective ideas and action for change.  The social care transformation promised really does need to deliver so that people, families and communities can thrive on their own terms.” 

Reflecting on her time at Samaritans, she added: 

“Samaritans does an incredible job in preventing suicide,” she said “whether that’s through answering a call or lobbying to reduce inequalities that can compound distress. I’m proud to have led the organisation – and a fantastic team – in Scotland and I want to say a huge thank you to them for all we have achieved together.”

For further information contact Chris Creegan, Associate Director at CCPS on 07973 119204 or at chris.creegan@blueyonder.co.uk 

The annual survey of care and support providers across Scotland presents a snapshot of key indicators in the sector, including levels of optimism, income and sustainability, and workforce.  Optimism levels are at a historic low due to a complex range of challenges and uncertainty facing the sector, with sustainability of services an enormous challenge for many.  The dramatic increase in recruitment and retention difficulties continues to reverberate, with few services immune to the impact. Read more here.

Our story- CCPS Annual Review 2020-21

It’s a very short read but it gives a great insight into everything our staff team, trustees and members worked on during the last financial year. Do please take a few minutes to have a look.

We couldn’t do what we do without the support of our members. As ever, they have played a very active role in everything we achieved in 2020-21 and continue to be at the heart of everything we do.

If you’d like to take a look at previous year’s reports, you can find them here.

A National Care Service for Scotland – CCPS consultation response

We have endeavoured to provide a comprehensive response to the consultation which reflects the diverse experiences and perspectives of our members, the people who work for them, and the people they support.

Our response focuses particularly but not exclusively on a number of key aspects of the proposals. In formulating it, we have drawn on CCPS thinking and policy positions adopted over time, and on both our submission to the recent Independent Review of Adult Social Care and our response to it.

Our initial statement can be found here: CCPS Initial Response to NCS Consultation

Families have a right to holistic, universally accessible, preventive family support. The Promise called for it and the incorporation of the UNCRC mandates it.  The challenges of Covid recovery make it more urgently needed than ever.

We look forward to working together with children, young people and families and our Scottish Government partners to shape the delivery of this ambitious vision and commitment.

Mark Macmillan, chair, CCPS Committee on care and support for children and young people

Below is a link to the Programme for Government and the specific section on the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/fairer-greener-scotland-programme-government-2021-22/pages/5/

Our promise included, ‘where children are safe in their families and feel loved they must stay – and families must be given support together to nurture that love and overcome the difficulties which get in the way’. This requires a shift in investment to prevent families reaching crisis point. We are committed to investing at least £500m over the life of this Parliament to create a Whole Family Wellbeing Fund. This will enable the building of universal, holistic support services, available in communities across Scotland, giving families access to the help they need, where and when they need it. This will help reduce the need for crisis intervention and contribute to improving people’s lives across a wide range of different areas, including but not limited to, child and adolescent mental health, child poverty, alcohol and drugs misuse and educational attainment. Fundamentally, this is about significantly reducing the number of children and young people who are living away from their families by 2030.

The Fund recognised that creating the relationships, structures, behaviours and leadership required for effective collaboration is challenging, and resource intensive. It aimed to provide some support for collaborations to work through these challenges and strengthen existing collaborative practice.

The Building Collaboration Fund provided a small amount of funding to six existing collaborations working to provide care and support across Scotland. It also created a facilitated space for peer learning, development and the sharing of good practice between each of the six funded collaboratives.

The report Building Collaboration: Learning from provider-led collaborations in Scotland’s social care sector  brings together learning from programme participants and provides insight into the collaborative behaviours, skills and attitudes required to collaborate effectively. This learning comes at a time of fundamental importance for those working in care and support in Scotland. The recently published Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland calls for – amongst other changes – a shift in narrative from competition to collaboration in the way we plan, purchase and deliver social care and support. Lets build on the learning we have, and use it to shift the balance of power towards people, choice and collaboration.