Social care cannot run on goodwill alone

Scotland’s social care workforce makes an extraordinary contribution, but it cannot keep being asked to do more with less.

Published this week, CCPS’s Workforce Priorities 2026 report draws on the experiences of our members across adult and children’s services and sends a clear message: if ministers want a resilient, sustainable social care system, they need to invest in the people who deliver it.

This is a workforce that builds relationships, supports people to live full lives, and strengthens families, communities and the economy. Yet too often, that contribution is praised in principle while undervalued in practice.

The warning from members is stark. As one put it: “We can’t expect goodwill to carry people forever.”

A workforce under pressure

The pressure on the workforce is no longer a warning sign. It is a daily reality. Recruitment and retention remain major challenges, with low pay continuing to drive turnover and deepen instability across services.

The pay gap tells its own story. In 2019, the difference between not-for-profit social care workers and their NHS counterparts stood at £2,400. By April 2025, it had widened to £3,770. That is not sustainable for a sector expected to recruit, retain and reward skilled staff.

At the same time, changes to UK visa rules have led to an 88% drop in Health and Care Worker visas for caring roles, squeezing an already stretched labour market even further.

The case for investment

The answer is not complicated. If Scotland is serious about reform, it has to be serious about investment. Underfunding remains the single biggest barrier to building the workforce social care needs.

That means matching warm words about the value of social care with real action on pay and conditions. These are skilled, regulated roles that demand judgement, responsibility and continual learning. Funding decisions need to reflect that reality.

It also means creating careers people can stay in. Flat structures and weak pay progression in senior roles are hindering retention and making it harder to build a stable, experienced workforce for the future.

As the report puts it: “Social care must be understood for its significant and tangible contribution to individual, family, community and economic wellbeing. Investing in social care and its staff is an investment in people.”

“CCPS and its members stand ready to work collaboratively with partners across the system to develop workforce policies that deliver parity of esteem, pay, and conditions between third sector providers and public sector employers.”

Learning, leadership and the long term

The same applies to learning and development. Training, qualifications and continuous professional learning should help people grow and stay in the sector. Too often, they are still shaped by fragmented systems, outdated thresholds and unnecessary bureaucracy.

CCPS members called for qualification frameworks that better reflect real-world practice and properly funded education pathways.

For those working with children and young people, the message is just as urgent. The ambitions of The Promise will not be met without long-term investment in the workforce expected to deliver it.

Members also called for improvements to leadership development, saying that there is currently too much emphasis on management compliance. Instead, we need leadership that is relational, values-driven and capable of building strong workplace cultures.

And while digital change matters, social care will always depend on human connection. Change and improvement cannot be built around systems alone. It has to be built around people.

A shared starting point

The challenge now is clear. Scotland cannot keep relying on the dedication of a workforce that is too often underpaid, undervalued and stretched beyond what is sustainable.

CCPS and its members stand ready to work collaboratively with partners across the system to develop workforce policies that deliver parity of esteem, pay, and conditions between third sector providers and public sector employers.

A central part of this approach is introducing sectoral bargaining in the voluntary social care sector. This must be done with the Scottish Government, third sector employers, and trade unions having an equal voice at the negotiating table.

If social care is truly valued, that value must be reflected in funding, pay, career progression, and long-term workforce planning.

Read our Workforce Priorities 2026 report