The National Care Service delay shouldn't mean no investment in social care

The reasons for this have been well documented over the past few weeks, with support for the Bill ebbing away as councils, trade unions and ultimately political parties took the decision to withdraw their support.

Much has been said, particularly in the past few days, about the role that local authorities have had in the process, with some assertions being made that Cosla has been unwilling to negotiate or come to the table to make progress on the development of the National Care Service.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Social care minister Maree Todd has maintained she is 'absolutely committed' to delivering a new National Care Service amid ongoing delays

There have been intensive discussions with the Scottish Government over the past 15 months. In fact, there was a point where in these negotiations there were only around two or three significant points of disagreement we were looking to resolve to take the Bill forward.

Unfortunately, this changed markedly when the Government laid draft amendments to the Bill in June that were not a reflection of what had been agreed over those long months of discussion and negotiation.

The main point of these amendments was to further centralise decision-making on how local services are delivered, giving Scottish ministers the power to move a wide range of council social services away from local democratic decision-making to decision-makers in Holyrood.

This was not something council leaders could accept as they will always put the best interests of their community at the heart of decisions. Despite further discussions, Government made it clear that it was their intention to press ahead with their amendments. It was at that point council leaders withdrew their support for the Bill.

Cllr Paul Kelly is Cosla's health and social care spokesperson

We share the frustration of the many organisations and individuals who are looking for reform and change and saw the National Care Service as the answer to the significant issues we face in delivering care to those in our communities who are most in need.

We also share the belief that reform is absolutely necessary and firmly believe that local decision-making, with local people at the heart of those decisions, must be central to any reform.

Leaders and councillors at a local level are in constant dialogue with people who have lived experience and are acutely aware of how very difficult decisions in the face of stretched resources impact on people in their communities.

So what now? We need to turn our focus to addressing the financial crisis that is affecting local authorities. The key asks in Cosla’s ‘Invest Locally In Scotland’s Future’ Budget campaign this year reflect the challenges across all our councils.

We are calling on the Scottish Government to provide fair and flexible funding to allow councils to balance budgets, meet workforce challenges, and higher demand for services – so councils can continue to deliver for our communities.

We know that we need to address the lack of investment in social care and social work due to real-terms cuts to core council budgets. Ninety-seven per cent of councils have staff shortages in social care, 90 per cent have shortages in social work and 6,120 people are waiting for a social care assessment.

We also recognise the financial pressures on our partner providers in the third and independent sector. Many councils and Integrated Joint Boards are overspent on social care.

Where this is the case, it is clear they are performing well, but with a legal requirement to balance budgets it is neither desirable nor sustainable that this continues.

Much has been said about the variation in how care is delivered across the country in what is often called the postcode lottery. We do know that care delivery will look different in Orkney than it will in Glasgow.

There does need to be consistency of outcomes for people wherever they live in Scotland, but that requires investment. Investment in people and investment in infrastructure as well as investment in digital and innovative solutions.

It is that investment in the social care workforce that will be crucial. We need to make sure those working in social care, whether delivering care in a residential setting or at home, are fairly paid.

We recognise the Scottish Government has applied a pay uplift to social care workers in the third and independent sectors who deliver the majority of care in our communities.

But more needs to be done on pay and on improving terms and conditions for some of the lowest-paid workers in the country who are doing a highly skilled and challenging job in difficult circumstances.

Given the tensions over the National Care Service, it would be easy to think that action to improve the system is completely absent. That is not the case.

We are working with the Scottish Government and a wide range of stakeholders on improvement across the system.

This includes activity around Fair Work, ethical commissioning and joint work to tackle delayed discharge from hospital. These are shared endeavours and it is this partnership that is required if we are to make the changes we need to improve our social care system in the face of the challenging demographic changes we face in the future.

Governance and accountability are important, but perhaps the delay in the Bill gives us the opportunity to take stock, make a serious investment in our system and take forward many of the reforms identified by the Feeley review that have until now sat on the sidelines whilst the focus has been on legislation.

​- Councillor Paul Kelly is the Cosla spokesperson for health and social care