9 June 2026

Social care cannot run on goodwill alone

Our 2026 Workforce Priorities report sets out why action on pay, progression and investment can’t wait, writes CCPS’s Policy Manager Alison Christie

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

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8 June 2026

‘Investing in social care and its staff is an investment in people’: CCPS publishes Workforce Priorities report

Our latest report summarises findings from two discussion sessions held with our members, and identifies the most urgent risks, needs and opportunities facing Scotland’s social care workforce

CCPS has today published its Workforce Priorities 2026 report, highlighting the most urgent risks, needs and opportunities facing Scotland’s social care workforce, and offering recommendations for next steps.   

The report, prepared for the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and the Qualifying the Adult Social Care Workforce National Group (QASC), summarises findings from two discussion sessions held with our members, the first bringing together adult social care providers and the second providers working with children and young people.

Read the report

We found that social care and support professionals draw immense emotional reward from their work, gaining huge satisfaction from being part of important relationships and supporting a person’s fulfilment. Yet structural barriers such as funding, pay, conditions, and public perception are undermining the sustainability of the workforce. As the report notes: “Emotional fulfilment cannot sustain a system without structural support.” 

Our research found that high turnover and retention remain significant problems for the sector. Low pay was a key issue in this regard, with participants lamenting that potential candidates for a career in social care can earn more working in retail with fewer responsibilities. 

“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.” 

Despite government commitments to fair work, a lack of parity between third sector and public sector-funded roles is increasing, meaning our members are unable to compete on salaries. In 2019, the difference in pay between not-for-profit social care workers and their NHS equivalents stood at £2,400; this disparity increased to £3,770 by April 2025. 

Members stressed the need for parity of esteem, with decision-makers better understanding and expressing the complexity, regulatory demands and ongoing learning required in social care roles. As the report says: “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.” 

Participants in the research sessions also identified flat organisational hierarchies as a hindrance to recruitment and retention. Decades of underfunding means the additional responsibilities of more senior roles cannot be recognised by pay differentials, making social care a less attractive long-term career choice. 

What’s more, the number of Health and Care Worker visas for those in a Caring Personal Service Occupation being granted has fallen by 88% since changes to UK visa rules were introduced, further compounding the pressures faced by social care providers in recruitment.  

When it comes to learning, members stressed the need to review current qualification frameworks to better align training with real-world practice; address the lack of reciprocal recognition of international qualifications; and ensure education is properly funded. Participants working with children and young people specifically highlighted that the ambitions of The Promise cannot be met without sustained workforce investment and reported growing frustration that progress expectations outpace available resources. 

“Scotland’s social care workforce is built on compassion, expertise, and resilience. Yet the findings show that without reform and investment, these values risk being eroded by structural inequities and resource limitations,” the report concludes.  

“CCPS, with its members, are ready to work with national partners, using the recommendations in this report as a starting point so that we can, collectively, change the narrative and improve outcomes for the social care sector and the people it supports.” 

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2 December 2024

It’s time to give the gift of Fair Pay…

As we enter Budget season, we’ve launched a campaign urging Scottish Government to invest in the workforce and cover the costs of the NI rise

Social care staff deliver vital public services in communities across Scotland, and they should be paid more than the minimum it costs to live.

They are working in a context where public sector cuts, lack of Fair Work and impending changes to Employers’ National Insurance are risking the viability of many services.

So we’ve launched a campaign urging the Scottish Government to give them More Than Warm Words this winter.

For the 2025-26 Budget we’re calling on them to:

  • Take a genuine first step towards the promise of Fair Work. Invest in our people by committing to the Real Living Wage + 10% in 2025-26, as the minimum for all frontline support staff. Stop the loss of essential workers
  • Cover the full costs of ongoing eNICs changes for not-for-profit social care providers, even if Westminster won’t. Otherwise, watch services disappear, unemployment rise, unmet need increase and the NHS crisis worsen.

Across the Scottish Budget period, we’ll be sharing messages and videos from our members in support of the campaign.

We’ve sent our members, and parliamentarians, a mug emblazoned with the campaign message.

And we’ll be calling on MSPs to speak up for the social care workforce and help give them the gift of Fair Pay.

Read the Budget briefing we sent MSPs

Read our press release about the letter we sent the Chancellor on NI

Follow the campaign on our social channels with #MoreThanWarmWords

For more information about the campaign and how to take part, email of Communications & Engagement team: comms@ccpscotland.org

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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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20 February 2024

“Some days, it feels like we literally hold people’s lives in our hands”

As part of our Rethink To 13 series, a support practitioner in Sense Scotland’s short breaks service tells us about the impact a pay increase to £13 would have on her, the workforce – and the people they support

“As a support practitioner in a respite unit for young people and adults with complex needs, I wear many hats, and perform so many roles in a day. I am carer, friend, cook, nurse, driver, emotional/physical outlet, entertainer, advocate, teacher, family, to name a few.

Some days, it feels like we literally hold people’s lives in our hands. I am paid the Living Wage for only one of these roles. Raising the wage to at least £13 an hour would not only allow us to feel more appreciated and valued within these roles, it would encourage experienced staff to stay within the care sector.

We do this job to the best of our ability and because we care. But in turn, we also need to feel that we are cared for. My role requires me to be registered with the SSSC, a professional body. However, we still are classed as unskilled workers. The roles we perform are anything but unskilled.

I have stayed with people in their hour of need, providing end of life care, ensuring they are not alone and feel safe and loved. Not because my role required this, but because this is what everyone deserves.

Raising the hourly rate of pay would lead to a happier, less stressed workforce, allowing us to focus on the care that the people receiving support deserve. This would enable them to have more confidence in the people caring for them and offer a happier, more positive experience of care.

It would also encourage others to look into a career in care, offering more diversity, skills and experience, which would enhance the level of service we can provide for the people we support.”

Find out more about Sense Scotland

Read more about our Rethink To 13 campaign

 

 

 

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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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24 October 2023

Statement: “With promised £12 per hour base pay no more than the Real Living Wage, social care staff need action now to show they are valued”

Our CEO Rachel Cackett responds to today’s announcement that the Real Living Wage will rise to £12 per hour

Responding to today’s announcement that the Real Living Wage will rise to £12 per hour, CCPS’s Chief Executive Rachel Cackett said:

“Back in September, the Scottish Government announced a £12 per hour base rate of pay for social care staff, starting in April 2024. Today, we know that this offer is no more than the new Real Living Wage amount, which will be introduced at the same time.

This means that many not-for-profit social care staff – who work with disabled people, older people, children, families and many others who need support in communities across Scotland – will now receive just the minimum the Living Wage Foundation calculates is needed to meet every day needs.

This is nothing like enough.

Before the new base rate and RLW kick in next spring, social care staff will have to navigate the winter months as an acute cost of living crisis continues, whilst many earn just the £10.90 per hour currently set by the Scottish Government.

The First Minister’s states his priorities are “Equality, Opportunity and Community”. These priorities are at the heart of social care. Yet a workforce that makes such a vital contribution to society, to supporting people to thrive and live independent lives, continues to face inequality and limited opportunities through poor government pay awards. The knock-on is a lack of available support for the most vulnerable people in our communities.

Investing in the value of social care is a political choice, and there is still time to make the right choice in the 2024-25 Budget. We know public finances are tight. We know we won’t get to parity of pay, terms and conditions for equal work with public sector colleagues overnight. We are very far from that now.

But we need to see a clear step to closing the pay gap in April next year and a plan to get to equality; a move towards showing staff that they are truly valued.

So, we are calling on the First Minister to up his offer to at least £13 per hour for all social care staff from April 2024 as part of a published timetable to achieve Fair Work.

Not as an end point, but to indicate in tough times that our government sees the value of our sector and is committed to ending deep inequities for social care staff in Scotland.”

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12 October 2023

4 Steps Comment: “The door is open. Now we need to push it a bit further”

Our CEO Rachel Cackett reflects on the disappointments and successes of our 4 Steps to Fair Work campaign – and what our emerging movement can do next in its fight for social justice

“You can survive, but you can’t really live.”

Those words from Derek, a frontline social care worker, have echoed around my head during our #4StepsToFairWork campaign. They describe what it feels like to live on the amount the Scottish Government makes available to our members to pay staff who provide support to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.  People we all clapped through COVID. The people who might work to support my family or yours.

It’s the quietest national scandal that, behind doors in streets and villages across Scotland, are people who need support to live, to thrive, to be well, to stay independent, who can’t get it because there simply aren’t the staff.

It’s the quietest national scandal that social care and support staff working in our sector – the vast majority of them women – are paid 20% less to deliver public services, from our taxes, than people doing equivalent work in the NHS.

So, at the start of 2023 we decided it was time to stop being quiet and call for better, loudly.

Our demands weren’t huge.  Simply, we wanted all staff to get at least £12 per hour from April 2023 as the first step of a public plan to pay people fairly. A plan to give staff, and the people they support, hope.

And our #4StepsToFairWork campaign began to snowball.

Frontline staff and CEOs from our member organisations stood up and spoke up. And then others joined.  Carer Organisations, Scotland’s Faith Leaders, partner organisations, people with experience of care and support all spoke up through blogs, emails to MSPs, social media posts. I would like to personally thank every one of you who did so.  In a sector, based on the rights of people to exercise choice and control about their own care and support, our diversity and our voice are our strengths.

Then, early in our campaign, our new First Minister stood up to give his first speech to the Scottish Parliament.

We waited.

“Equality, Opportunity, Community” he said. Those are the government’s new priorities.  “That’s social care!”, we thought.

We waited…

A commitment to £12 an hour, he said.  “At last!”, we thought. The voices had been loud enough for him to hear.

But then he gave no date.

A crisis heard, but half a promise made. And a crashing disappointment for the thousands of committed staff in our sector, and to the leaders trying to keep their organisations open.

140 days later the date came in the Programme for Government – £12ph from April 2024. We hoped for a mistake in the speech, but no. A year late and by then, again too little.

And no plan.

Of course I am disappointed that the voices of so many have not resulted in our asks being met in full. That the national scandal of the Scottish Government baking in inequity to social care, and leaving people without the support they need, remains. But is it over? Absolutely not.

The door is open. We just need to push it a bit further.

Your voices were so loud, your arguments so clear, that our new FM knew he had to make a commitment to our sector in his first speech. We shouldn’t ignore this; we should build on it.

For the first time, the pay award has been extended to those working in children’s services: A first inequity addressed through our campaign.

The collective, public, voice of our sector and our allies is building to bring social justice to social care and support. Nurturing that emerging movement in the run-up to elections, as parties set their new priorities, is crucial.

And finally – and importantly – let’s remember that the £12 announcement might be made, but the Scottish Budget is not yet passed.  Every MSP has an opportunity to speak up to call for more, for better.  All of us can still call on politicians, whose core job is to allocate tax payers’ money to fund priorities for our nation, to make a better decision.

So, our #4StepsToFairWork campaign concludes today; but our campaign for better for our sector does not.

Watch this space….

Blogs, video contributions and resources from our 4 Steps campaign (June – October 2023) are available to read here

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