Professor John Robertson OBA
From People requiring a social care assessment and care at home services published yesterday:
The estimated number of people assessed and waiting for a care at home package was 3,207 on 24 November 2025. This is slightly higher (3%) than the number of people (3,119) waiting for a care at home package this time last year (25 November 2024).
From: Number of people receiving adult social care assessments, who have not received local authority social care support in the previous 12 months
From April 2024 to September 2024, 285,000 people received a local authority adult social care assessment in England, having not received local authority long-term support in the previous 12 months. In July 2024, there were 51,000 people assessed, the largest monthly number in the period. The month with the lowest number of people assessed was September 2024 in which 44,000 people received an assessment.
I hesitate to make simple comparisons between data collected by different systems, but it looks as if, quite clearly, the number assessed but not receiving local authority long-term support is at least around 60% greater in England (51 000) than in Scotland (32 000 pro rata).
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 