By stewartb

Problems with social care? Just in Scotland? Is the British Labour Party in government in Westminster solving the resourcing issues underlying social care problems in England? It seems that the British Labour Party in government is no more the ‘solution’ to the problems facing the sector in England than the Tories! Indeed they seem to be contributing to their continuation. Given this, why would the British Labour Party in government in Holyrood be the ‘solution’ for Scotland?

Nuffield Trust (March 26, 2025) Nuffield Trust response to the Spring Statement – press release. (https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/news-item/nuffield-trust-response-to-the-spring-statement)

‘Adult social care has once again been hung out to dry. Today’s statement confirms the absence of funding to cover extra costs, which we estimate will amount to £2.8bn from Employer National Insurance Contributions and minimum wage increases for care providers. This will likely lead to many providers going bust or reducing services, meaning people will suffer from less choice or poorer quality care. (my emphasis)

“The government has promised long-term reform of adult social care with the upcoming Casey Commission. The newly announced Transformation Fund offers billions of extra funding for reforming public services, but it’s unclear whether any of this will be used for desperately needed changes to adult social care. Today’s worrying financial outlook risks jeopardising the sector before Baroness Casey’s feet are even under the table.” 

More generally on the Spring Statement from the Nuffield Trust:‘Today’s announcements have added to the already substantial pressures being felt in the health service. They mean that the day-to-day health budget for next year will grow by less than 2% in real terms, after adjusting for the impact of national insurance increases in the NHS. This compares to a long-term average of nearer 3%.’

‘Over the last decade and a half, successive governments have repeated the same mistake of underestimating the level of funding growth required to keep up with growing patient needs and expectations, resulting in chaotic last minute top ups to the budget. This has already happened for the budget for the current financial year, which had to be supplemented with an extra £800m for the NHS just four months after the Chancellor’s autumn statement.’

Note that all three devolved governments reliant on ‘block grants’ for the bulk of their budgets will have been living with ‘chaotic last minute top ups to the budget‘ over the past decade in the context of Barnett consequential payments.. How is that a reasonable basis upon which to instigate substantial and perhaps cost-sensitive reforms?

The Health Foundation (March 26, 2025)  ‘Chancellor’s cuts risk compromising people’s health’ –  press release.

‘Social care was notable by its absence from the Chancellor’s speech.

‘It is deeply disappointing that calls to support the sector with the additional costs of increases in National Insurance contributions and the National Minimum Wage have largely been ignored. This will heap further pressure on a struggling sector and risks reducing people’s access to publicly funded care.’

From another perspective, from the Local Government Association (LGA) that represents councils in England (March 24): ‘No more sticking plasters’ – LGA survey lays bare local government funding crisis’.

‘All social care authorities responding to the survey said it was very or fairly likely that external service providers would pass the impact of changes to employer NICs back to their council through increased service costs in both adults’ and children’s social care and other contracted services. The LGA has estimated these indirect costs could cost councils up to an extra £1.13 billion this year.’

And more generally, to put the complaints of opposition parties in Scotland over local government budgets and its role in social care delivery in Scotland into context:

‘The LGA said councils continue to embrace efficiency and innovation in a way that has not been replicated anywhere else in the public sector. Between 2010/11 and 2022/23, councils made an estimated £24.5 billion in cuts and efficiencies in service spending in order to manage funding reductions, inflation, wage growth, demographic pressures and growing service demand.’

Meanwhile, unbeknown(!) to the oppositional mainstream media in Scotland, COSLA representing local government in Scotland issued a press statement on a recent meeting (March 21) of the COSLA Health and Social Care Board with the Scottish Government and Health and Social Care Scotland.

‘Reflecting on the meeting, COSLA Spokesperson for Health and Social Care, Councillor Paul Kelly, said:

“Today’s meeting saw lots of challenging but productive conversations, and some important decisions made that will directly contribute to improved experiences for users of social care services.’