Alarm as councils spend nearly £150 million on agency workers to staff social care

Councils have spent nearly £150 million on agency workers to staff their social care services since 2017/18, new figures reveal.

The rate of spending surged from £19,086,849 in 2017/18 to £32,412,436 in 2021/22 – a rise of more than two-thirds.

It means the total council outlay on agency staff over those five years – plus 2022/23 so far – stands at £149,312,869.

Edinburgh Council spent the most on agency staff in its local authority-run social care settings, racking up a bill of more than £30 million over the last five years. Inverclyde, meanwhile, upped its spending from £15,540 to £230,453.

The National Care Service plans have sparked controversy.

The figures were unearthed by the Scottish Conservatives using freedom of information laws, with the party’s social care spokesman Craig Hoy accusing the SNP of overseeing a “social care crisis”.

He called on the Scottish Government to scrap its plans to create a National Care Service, billed as the most ambitious public sector reform since the creation of the NHS.

Mr Hoy said: “The SNP are presiding over a social care crisis in Scotland. Their savage funding cuts – exacerbated by [Deputy First Minister] John Swinney’s budget earlier this month – have crippled local councils, and now the SNP plan to impose total ministerial control, via a National Care Service. This will be a disaster for social care in Scotland.

“These staggering figures highlight the huge problem the industry has with recruitment and retention of staff, which has led to this increasing reliance on agency staff. And stakeholders are clear that a National Care Service will do nothing to address these issues.

“The last thing we need right now is an administrative overhaul of the system, which would only result in precious resources being taken from the frontline to employ hundreds more management staff. The SNP’s own estimates show that establishing a National Care Service could cost an eye-watering £1.3 billion.

“The Scottish Conservatives continue to oppose the SNP’s irresponsible and expensive plans, and would instead establish a Local Care Service as an effective alternative. We want every penny poured into local care provision, which would be far more responsive than a costly, centralised bureaucracy.

“We urge the SNP to abandon this reckless, unaffordable policy before even more money is drained away from the frontline.”

There have been widespread concerns over the plans for a National Care Service, with councils and trade unions strongly critical of the proposal. Unite has called it an "all-out assault on local democracy", while former SNP health secretary Alex Neil previously branded the scheme “nonsensical”.

Holyrood’s finance committee, which is convened by SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson, recently expressed “significant concerns” over a lack of detailed costs. It called on the Scottish Government to provide “much needed clarity” ahead of a vote in Holyrood.

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.