Early days of National Care Service could see a ‘state of flux’, MSPs warned

The introduction of a National Care Service will result in a “state of flux” for a period of time, MSPs have been told.

Holyrood’s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee heard evidence from a panel of experts on the proposed legislation on Tuesday.

The National Care Service (Scotland) Bill seeks to consolidate social care services under a national body divided into regional boards in a set-up similar to the NHS.

It is being considered at the Scottish Parliament following an independent review of adult social care services in 2021, which recommended reforming social care in Scotland and strengthening national accountability for social care support.

But MSPs were alerted to concerns from figures in local authorities, primarily over uncertainties around future planning.

Isla Davie KC, from the Faculty of Advocates, warned that a lack of information on transition within the legislation will result in “obvious difficulties” in the social care sector.

She said there will be “some difficulties” around issues such as staffing and improving outcomes due to there being “some big decisions to be made”.

Ms Davie added: “In the interim, there’s not a great deal in the Bill about transition – perhaps for obvious reasons – because decisions haven’t been made, but it means that there will be a state of flux for a period of time.

“And I think there are going to be some obvious difficulties with that, where you have people working in the sector – some of whom will remain exactly the same people – but with different structures placed on top of that.”

Eddie Fraser, chief executive of East Ayrshire Council, said social care services are “truly unstable” in the current circumstances.

He told the committee: “We have no certainty as local authority leaders on what services are going to look like in the next three to four years, and the current circumstances are truly unstable for social work, for social care, but also for the rest of the council.

“There seems to be a real lack of understanding about how intertwined different parts of the council are. How to deliver good social care – you need to be linked to housing – how our social work services and our education services work together. How our legal services, our HR services have, everything down to our transport services within a council.

“They are all interrelated in terms of doing that. So we have no certainty where we are going forward in this framework nature of the bill, in terms of planning for it.”

Councillor Paul Kelly, Cosla’s health and social care spokesman, said the local government body is “absolutely open to having dialogue with the Scottish Government” on the Bill.

He echoed the issues raised about a lack of detail in the plans, some of which he said are “very, very significant”.

“We’re being asked to consider it without the proper details,” he said.

“We know how important the services are that we deliver at a local level, how important they are to our communities, so it’s critical that we get that detail correct.”

Mr Kelly added: “We still haven’t confirmed that the terms and conditions, we haven’t talked about pensions, etc.

“The worry that is creating among staff that I’m talking to on a regular basis is significant.”