What SNP can learn from unpaid carers who save Scotland £16bn a year

Between 2011 and 2022, the proportion of Scots providing unpaid care rose by 27.5 per cent, so that today more than one in ten are doing some form of care.

That the number of unpaid carers has risen in step with the age of our population is not surprising – families have always taken a role in caring for their loved ones who are sick or frail.

Unpaid carers make it possible for elderly parents to stay at home for longer, for sick or disabled spouses to live life to the full and for children with special needs to grow up surrounded by love and encouragement.

And they also save the taxpayer immense bills – the financial value of unpaid care in Scotland was estimated at £15.9 billion in 2022, according to a new report by Carers Scotland and the Centre of Care, almost as much as the entire NHS Scotland budget.

‘National Quango Service’

For some, it’s an active choice to spend precious moments with family members at their time of greatest need. At the same time, many unpaid carers step in because they don’t see any other option.

They are the workers resigning and relocating to avoid a family crisis, the busy parents sacrificing their weekends, the teenagers who end up looking after their parents. This is where the National Care Service should have stepped in.

The UK Government has already shown what can be done to help unpaid carers and those they look after (Picture: Christopher Furlong) | Getty Images

Sadly, the SNP government wasted the equivalent of a million hours of social care creating a National Quango Service that did not pay for a single extra carer. Ministers could have followed the recommendations of the Feeley Review that set out what a National Care Service could be, but went for style over substance.

It was a power grab by the centre that ignored the views of local authorities, trade unions, care providers, care workers and those cared for, despite their expertise on this issue and the fact the challenges of care look very different depending on whether you live in a Glasgow tenement or a croft on Skye.

After almost every stakeholder walked away, the SNP kicked the Bill into the longest grass it could find. Meanwhile, unpaid carers are still picking up the pieces and vulnerable patients are stuck in limbo in hospital beds because there is no care package available for them.

Right to Respite

Scottish Labour is calling on the SNP government to use its existing powers to provide a ‘Right to Respite’ for carers and introduce Anne’s Law to strengthen families’ rights to visit their loved ones in care homes.

These are actions it could take now that would have a meaningful difference to people's lives. As well as giving dignity to carers and relieving pressure on families, it is only by reforming social care that this SNP government can get Scotland’s record-high numbers of delayed-discharge patients down.

The new UK Labour government has already shown what can be done by raising the limit on how many hours carers may work while receiving carer’s allowance, to allow unpaid carers more financial stability and give thousands of more access to carer’s allowance for the first time.

Unpaid carers should be celebrated for their willingness, when faced with a challenge, to roll up their sleeves. This SNP government could learn a thing or two from them.

Jackie Baillie MSP is Scottish Labour’s deputy leader