Urgent action on pay key to reforming social care

We are standing at a pivotal moment for social care in Scotland. In recent years, policy decisions from austerity to Brexit, combined with external shocks including Covid-19, have placed immense pressure on our sector, and we now find ourselves at a tipping point. With the Scottish Government’s spending review and Budget approaching, the time for action is now.

There are clear paths to navigate our way out of this crisis, but for these to be realised, we need the government to show us it recognises the immense and wide-ranging benefits our sector brings to our society and our economy. A key part of this will be investing in the qualified, highly skilled and professionally regulated workforce who provide life-changing support in our communities every day – and whose pay is in the hands of the Scottish Government.

We need fair pay because our staff – who provide highly skilled support to disabled people, older people, people with learning disabilities, children, families and many others – deserve their invaluable contributions to be recognised. We also need fair pay because it makes social care a sustainable career choice, supporting the viability of our sector, and helping us better weather any future storms.

We know that the government has made public commitments to Fair Work. Its Adult Social Care (ASC) Worker Uplift Policy initially promised a real commitment to fair pay for social care professionals. But despite its good intentions, the policy has not kept pace with a shifting economic landscape and has also faced several unforeseen challenges in its implementation. We think the policy is no longer fit for purpose, and staff and the wider sector are feeling the strain.

That’s why my organisation, the Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland (CCPS), is calling on the Scottish Government to urgently review this policy and revise its approach to social care pay immediately, before swiftly introducing sector-wide bargaining on pay. After conducting research on our members’ experience of this policy in action, we have today published a report on our findings, The Impact of the Scottish Government’s Adult Social Care Worker Uplift Policy. Click here to read the report.

Our message is clear: despite its best intentions, this policy is not working on the ground, and social care staff and the wider sector deserve better. We need the government to listen to our members and take urgent action to fulfil its promise of fair work and pay without delay.

Social care and support staff provide the scaffolding needed to help people live independent and fulfilled lives. They also provide preventative support which reduces costs for other public services, including the NHS – so by investing more in social care now, the Scottish Government cuts costs now and in the long run.

Despite this, pay policy is far from where it needs to be. The government’s policy has, since 2016, been to ensure that all ASC workers delivering direct care in commissioned services are paid at least the Real Living Wage. But this figure (currently £12.60/hour) is nowhere near enough to mitigate the staffing challenges our sector faces. ALDI pays its staff a minimum of £13/hour. On top of this, without funding to maintain proper pay differentials between staff of different grades – which our research shows is often not possible – social care will not be an attractive long-term career choice.

We welcome the government’s commitment to sectoral bargaining as its approach to social care pay and have been working collaboratively with them, alongside employers and trade unions. But this is simply taking too long; we need action now.

Investing in our people and making our sector better able to attract and retain staff will be hugely impactful when it comes to building strong, secure foundations for the rights-based, sustainable system of social care and support our country needs. And there is no time to lose. We know the Scottish Government has the appetite for reforming social care, and we as a sector are ready and willing to support them in realising their vision for fair work and pay.

We need tangible action now – for our staff, mostly women, doing invaluable work; for the one in 25 people who need social care each year in Scotland, as well as their friends, families and communities; and for the other public services such as the NHS whose work we support. The upcoming spending review and Budget offer a prime opportunity for action.

The government must urgently work with us to review its approach to social care pay – as part of the response to the viability of our sector. This will ensure our staff are paid fairly for the vital work they do and that providers can fully fund their workforce costs.  The future of our sector, and the government’s ambitions for reform, depends on it.