Redrafted National Care Service costings still lack detail, say social workers

The latest costings for the planned National Care Service (NCS) still lack sufficient detail, the professional leadership body for social workers has said.

Social Work Scotland said the new financial memorandum from the Scottish Government for its overhaul of the care sector is not transparent enough.

The Government made significant changes to the NCS following concerns about ballooning costs and a transfer of powers away from local authorities.

Earlier this week, Scottish Government officials told Holyrood’s Finance Committee that costs had been reduced and made less uncertain, with savings of up to £1.276 billion over a 10-year period compared to the original plan.

However, some members of the committee said they still had concerns and sought further clarity on the Government’s strategy.

On Wednesday, the committee published a letter from Social Work Scotland’s director, Ben Farrugia.

It welcomed the latest information from the Government, but added: “Overall the information provided still lacks the transparency and sufficient detail needed to provide legitimate challenge from parliamentarians, stakeholders, other interested parties, users of services or the public.

“The many sections in the revised FM (financial memorandum) that set out reasons for variance between the original and revised FM are helpful, but do not disentangle the effects of changes in policies, proposed implementation phasing, methods, cost-modelling assumptions, unit costs and other input data, inflation, and demography.”

Social care minister Maree Todd is due to appear at the Finance Committee on Thursday as part of its final stage one evidence session on the NCS Bill.

She said: “The National Care Service Bill is essential to driving the reform that everyone agrees is necessary.

“I have already set out to Parliament my intention to make some changes to the Bill at Stage 2, should Parliament agree the general principles of the Bill at Stage 1. These changes would substantially reduce the costs associated with the Bill.

“The financial figures were provided in my response to the Finance and Public Administration Committee on December 11 2023. We will continue to assist the Scottish Parliament by providing timely information as required to ensure the Stage 1 debate can take place by the new deadline of March 1 2024.”