Scottish Government must withdraw National Care Service Bill, says Unison

A union has called on the Scottish Government to withdraw a healthcare Bill it says does not tackle the “prolonged crisis across the social services system”. Unison said the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill amounted to a ministerial power grab which would undermine local government and the NHS and should be withdrawn immediately.

The plan would see ministers and councils share legal accountability for social care in hopes of easing the crisis facing the sector. Unison said the Bill would fail to deliver the necessary improvements for the people who need care and the staff who deliver it.

The union made its call for ministers to drop the legislation in evidence presented to Holyrood’s health, social care and sport committee, which is considering the much-delayed Bill.

Unison said the Bill covers not just residential care and home care, but also children’s services and community health, and urged ministers to move to a not-for-profit social care model. This could be done by insourcing key services for councils to provide directly, increasing local democratic oversight and control, said the union.

Unison Scotland regional manager Simon Macfarlane said: “Unison is committed to a national care service, but not the version proposed. The Scottish Government’s Bill fails to tackle the underlying causes of the prolonged crisis across the social services system. What needs to change is the toxic combination of chronic underfunding over many years and the fragmented, market-led model of social care.

“As it stands, those in need of care, their families and the workers in the sector are all set to be failed by this Bill. Even at this advanced stage, the Government is unable to explain what it will do or how, and what improvements will be made. The Bill should be scrapped and the focus moved to delivering commitments such as funding fair work and sectoral bargaining.”

Earlier in September, GMB Scotland withdrew its support for the Bill. It said the legislation, which is facing a number of substantial amendments at stage two, will not compel care providers to pay staff fairly, leading to 79 per cent of members backing plans to withdraw support.

Louise Gilmour, the Scotland secretary at the union, previously said the plan should be an “opportunity to rebuild a care system in crisis”, but added: “Instead of recognising the value of those frontline staff, these plans only add bureaucracy to a service that is already choking on it.

“The problems in social care are obvious and the solution is just as clear and would mean employers being compelled to fairly pay and properly protect care workers. Instead, years of talks and millions of pounds have been wasted while that fundamental issue has been ignored and our care system sinks deeper into crisis.

“We have heard plenty of warm words about our campaign for carers to earn £15 an hour, for example, but progress has been glacial. All the time and money spent on the National Care Service should have transformed how care is delivered, protecting workers and those they care for. It has, instead, achieved nothing.”

Social care minister Maree Todd maintained that a national care service would ensure “greater transparency” in the sector and that it would benefit the workforce, as well as give better support to unpaid carers.

She said: “We need to fundamentally transform the way social care is delivered in Scotland. People who receive support through social care, their families and communities must be involved in planning and delivery at local level.

“But the system needs to work and people have told us, clearly, that it does not provide the high standard of care that people should rightfully expect. The national care service will ensure greater transparency in the delivery of care, with greater accountability at national and local level, whilst strengthening the role of the workforce and providing enhanced support for unpaid carers.”

Ms Todd added: “We are committed to establishing a national care service board that delivers clear, consistent national care standards by the end of this parliamentary term.”