11 February 2026
CCPS launches new budget campaign: Fund social care like it matters
We’re calling on the Scottish Government to reverse its budget decision which could create an estimated £19 million funding shortfall in the social care sector
VIDEO: ‘Fund social care like it matters’
The Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS) is calling on the Scottish Government to reverse a decision made in this year’s budget which is estimated to create a funding shortfall of around £19 million across the social care sector.
When the Scottish Budget was published on January 13, it was revealed that the government had unilaterally changed the way it funds pay for frontline staff in public sector-commissioned social care services.
This means the sector is now expected to plug a funding gap of around £19 million out of its own pocket – and the money just isn’t there.
Watch our short explainer on the budget’s funding shortfall.
The government’s policy is for staff in commissioned services to receive at least the Real Living Wage (RLW), and it has – until now – ringfenced an annual pay fund in the budget which enables providers to meet costs as the RLW rises.
Yet without any prior consultation with providers in CCPS’s membership, the Scottish Government changed the way it calculates the pay fund in this year’s budget.
If this decision goes ahead, it will result in a funding gap which CCPS members have begun to estimate as increasing costs of between £30,000 and £740,000 for their different sized organisations over a single year.
Social care providers are not supermarkets – they can’t simply raise prices to cover additional costs. And with rising financial pressures, providers are already being forced to scale back services and rely on reserves to reach financial balance.
When people can’t access social care support, it impacts their health and wellbeing and adds strain to other public services, including the NHS. Yet with social care providers in an already perilous situation, the Scottish Government has decided to add further pressure.
But it’s not too late for the government to change this.
Before the final budget vote on February 25, it can reverse this decision and give social care the investment it needs to thrive.
We’re asking the Scottish Government to:
- Fund social care like it matters
- Return the £19 million
- Recommit to Fair Work in social care
All of this would help rebuild trust with care providers, and mean the government could take an important step towards delivering its commitment to prevention, taking pressure off the NHS, and supporting people all over Scotland to live life on their own terms