Why SNP cuts mean Scotland's social care crisis is about to get a lot worse

Growing old in Scotland should be something to be celebrated, not feared

Kathleen, 86, is non-verbal and suffers from a rare and complex medical condition, but until now she has been cared for by a specialist service where carers build up trust with their clients and help them to stay in their own homes.

Now, though, Glasgow's Supported Living service is set to be axed, with Kathleen's daughter telling the Glasgow Times, "I honestly do not know what we will do". The reason for the cut? Glasgow's Integration Joint Board (IJB), which works with the council and health board to deliver social care, is facing a £42.5 million funding blackhole.

A sad enough tale – but there are 29 other IJBs where the same story will be heard over and over again. As councils and the healthcare providers try to keep our social care system functioning, a huge financial sinkhole is opening up beneath them.

A financial black hole in funding for social care in Scotland will have a serious impact on vulnerable people (Picture: Viken Kantarci) | AFP via Getty Images

Taking away help for people with dementia

In March, the Accounts Commission warned there would be a projected funding gap of nearly £500m for IJBs for 2024-5, while it was reported last week that the financial blackhole will stretch to £560m this financial year. According to the report by Health and Social Care Scotland, that is the equivalent of 11,585 nurses or 18,135 care home beds.

Here’s what a financial blackhole looks like in practice. In Glasgow, the Integration Joint Board is not only axing the Supported Living service which will remove help for people with dementia, but it has announced the closure of the Notre Dame centre in Glasgow for children with trauma and has already ended its contract with Marie Curie to provide overnight palliative care.

In West Lothian, a cafe in an assisted living complex is threatened with closure, while in Aberdeen the IJB is planning to reduce the number of nurses and hike the fees for day care.

Thousands of Scots are already stuck in hospital beds because of the shortage of social care support – cuts will make that shortage even worse. And just as councils have to make impossible choices because the SNP has slashed their budgets, the IJBs are bearing the brunt of what was decided in St Andrew’s House.

Wasted years

In 2023, when John Swinney was acting Finance Secretary, his department clawed back more than £331m in Covid reserves from the IJBs, despite the ongoing challenges in the wake of the pandemic. When grilled by my Glasgow colleagues, Swinney was forced to acknowledge that there was a problem, admitting “there will need to be a wider conversation” on Glasgow’s IJB.

But ultimately, that conversation starts and ends with Swinney’s SNP government – which spent nearly £30m and wasted years on a National Care Service Bill that hoarded power at the centre without paying for a single extra carer. Meanwhile, the Integration Joint Boards were fraying at the seams.

The needs of vulnerable Scots like Kathleen are not going to go away – if anything they will increase. We need to create a Scotland where growing old is something to be celebrated, not feared. Sadly, under the SNP, the country is going in the wrong direction.