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New Report: Overcoming Qualification Barriers in Scottish Social Care

New Report Highlights Critical Barriers to Qualification for Scottish Social Care Workforce

Scottish Care has today launched (24 April 2025) its latest report, “Overcoming Qualification Barriers in Scottish Social Care: A Survey Analysis”. This publication, based on survey data from independent sector social care services, addresses the critical challenges faced by the sector regarding mandatory qualifications for its workforce.

Mandatory registration with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) and the requirement for staff in registered roles to achieve a mandatory qualification are legal stipulations widely supported by sector leaders for professionalisation and recognition of the workforce’s vital skills. However, the report highlights that sufficient resourcing from key policy and funding stakeholders has not aligned with the drive for full registration, resulting in substantial barriers to accessing and funding these qualifications.

The report highlights a worrying trend: a significant number of social care workers are considering leaving the sector specifically because of these qualification obstacles. This potential loss of experienced staff poses a serious threat to the sector’s stability, exacerbating existing vacancies and reducing the capacity of care organisations to deliver essential support services at a time of growing demand in both care home and care at home provision.

The report highlights SSSC data that 57% of home care workers and 54% of care home support workers are yet to achieve mandatory registration qualifications. If these large proportions of staff do not achieve their qualifications within the shortened three-year timeframe, they are unlikely to be able to continue in their roles, with massive implications for the workforce and the sector as a whole.

The report serves as a critical step in exploring the impact of registration and qualification requirements. While acknowledging the positive aspects of professional registration and the value of qualifications when they work effectively, it concludes that the current process presents extensive challenges for a diverse workforce.

Scottish Care is clear that registration is essential for safety and professionalism, but the associated qualifications must be a vehicle for acknowledging, validating, and celebrating skills, not an inhibitor to a career in care. The sustainability of care organisations and the journey of their staff depend on a qualification system that supports recruitment and retention.

The report calls for wider buy-in and partnership working among all stakeholders to build on areas of positivity and urgently resolve the worsening workforce crises in the sector .

Scottish Care calls on the Scottish Government and all key stakeholders to urgently invest in the social care workforce. As staff take on increasingly complex roles, they must be supported to gain and maintain essential qualifications. This requires sustainable funding, accessible training pathways, and long-term commitment. Without collective action, there is a serious risk of deepening the workforce crisis and compromising the quality and safety of care across Scotland.

The report is available here

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Finalists Revealed for the 2025 Care at Home & Housing Support Awards!

We’re delighted to reveal the finalists for this year’s Care at Home and Housing Support Awards!

A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a nomination – and a massive congratulations to all our incredible shortlisted finalists!

Join us as we celebrate their achievements at the Awards Ceremony, hosted by Michelle McManus and Dr Donald Macaskill, on the evening of Friday 16 May 2025 at the Radisson Blu, Glasgow, following the Care at Home & Housing Support Conference.

Want to book a table for the awards? Click here for more details.

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Scottish Care Calls for Urgent Action Following IJB Finance Report

Scottish Care Calls for Urgent Action on Social Care Funding Following IJB Finance Report

Scotland’s Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) are facing significant financial strain, with a new Audit Scotland report highlighting rising service costs, budget deficits, and a 40% drop in reserves. Nine IJBs now have no contingency funds, raising concerns over long-term sustainability. While most planned savings were achieved in 2023/24, many were one-off measures, meaning further budget adjustments will be needed.

Looking ahead, IJBs face a £457 million funding gap for 2024/25, underscoring the urgent need for realistic financial planning and collaboration. High turnover in leadership roles adds further uncertainty, while the report stresses the importance of transforming services through prevention and early intervention to manage growing demand.

Today’s report on the financial state of Scotland’s Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) makes for disturbing reading. It articulates a position of financial constraint and growing pressures which will be familiar to those who provide social care as well as those who access this support.

Scottish Care has long advocated for a fairer redistribution of health and social care funding, ensuring that the priorities of prevention and early intervention are actually achieved.

We welcome Audit Scotland’s clear assessment and support its call for a whole-system approach to prioritising preventative care and support.

Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care, said:

“In a situation of limited financial resources, we must allocate funding wisely to truly strengthen social care, primary care, and general practice. We simply cannot continue pouring yet more money into acute and secondary NHS care while at the same time bleeding and stripping out the care and support from social care organisations.

We need to stop people getting into hospital and then being delayed from getting back home – the way we do that is to invest in social care.

Whole-system reform, which includes all parts of the health and social care sector, is now time critical.”

You can read the report here: Integration Joint Boards’ Finance Bulletin 2023/24 | Audit Scotland

 

 

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Perth & Kinross Council Announces £6.7m Social Care Investment

Perth & Kinross Council has announced a £6.7 million funding boost for social care as part of its latest budget, with the additional investment directed to the Perth & Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP). This funding aims to help sustain vital services amid increasing financial pressures on the sector.

The investment has been welcomed by social care representatives, who recognise its importance in maintaining current service levels. However, they also highlight the ongoing challenges facing the sector. Dave Henderson, Independent Sector Lead in Perth & Kinross, said:

“I welcome the £6.7m funding from Perth & Kinross Council’s budget to support social care through this additional investment in the Perth & Kinross HSCP. While this funding will not fully address the extensive pressures across the social care system, I recognise the positive impact it will have in helping the HSCP to maintain current levels of provision and services for the people of Perth & Kinross. This, in turn, supports independent social care providers who deliver these crucial services in our area.”

However, he stressed that further national and local resources will be needed to ensure long-term sustainability.

“Like other social care providers across Scotland, they face significant financial and sustainability challenges, including the increasing burden of employer National Insurance contributions. Additional national and local resources will therefore continue to be required, and solutions identified through collaborative working, but this announcement is a positive step for local services, communities and citizens.”

The council’s investment reflects its commitment to supporting vulnerable residents and ensuring the continuation of essential social care services across Perth & Kinross.

The full announcement can be accessed here: Ambitious budget set to empower communities and support the most vulnerable – Perth & Kinross Council (pkc.gov.uk)

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Deadline Extension: Care at Home & Housing Support Awards 2025

Deadline Extension: Care at Home & Housing Support Awards 2025 – Enter by 10 March!

We are delighted to announce that the Care at Home & Housing Support Awards 2025 entry deadline has been extended to Monday 10 March 2025, at 9:00 am.

With our annual Care at Home & Housing Support Conference and Awards taking place on Friday 16 May 2025, at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow, this is the perfect opportunity to celebrate the dedication, innovation, and excellence across the sector.

At a time when the role of social care is more critical than ever, these awards provide a platform to honour outstanding individuals, teams, and services who make a difference every day.

Don’t miss this final chance to recognise and celebrate excellence in homecare – submit your nominations today!

Submit your entry here: https://scottishcare.org/care-at-home-and-housing-support-awards-2025/

Final Deadline: Monday 10 March 2025, at 9:00 am

We look forward to celebrating the achievements of those who make social care exceptional. Get your entries in before the final deadline!

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Media Statement – “I worry about the Future” – 49% of Care Homes Report a Decrease in Placements

In January 2025, Scottish Care drew attention to the stark impact of ongoing funding pressures for the independent care at home and housing support sector, the untold stress on the sustainability of vital care providers across Scotland, and diminished access to an adequate level of person-led care. We now turn our attention to the #SocialCareCrisis facing the independent care home sector, through the significant decrease in Local Authority or Health Board placements across the country.

Scottish Care received 146 responses from our membership, overseeing the delivery of residential and/or nursing care across 403 homes in Scotland. We found:

  • A total of 1,463 placement vacancies. 
    • 4 vacancies for every home our respondents oversee.
    • 68% of these vacancies are accessible through Local Authority or Health Board placement and the subsequent National Care Home Contract (NCHC) funding model, providing an essential public service.
  • A significant decrease in the numbers of individuals placed by the Local Authority or Health Board in care homes across Scotland compared to the same period in 2022:  
    • 20.0% of respondents stated that the number of placements had decreased significantly.
    • 29.0% of respondents stated that the number of placements had decreased.
    • 45.5% of respondents stated that placements have stayed the same.
    • 6.2% of respondents stated that the number of placements had increased.

A practice of particular concern is the increased prevalence of ‘2:1’ placement policies in various localities, that Local Authority or Health Boards must recoup the equivalent money of two placements before funding the place of a new individual. Communities across Scotland should not have to wait for fellow citizens to pass away before being able to receive the care home they desire:

“Since before Christmas, there has been a big reduction in social workers seeking rooms for local authority clients. Sometimes, despite the family feeling care home is more appropriate, only homecare funding is offered”. 

Such stark results highlight the unsustainability of the independent care home sector in Scotland. There has been a 18% decrease in the number of care homes for adults in Scotland over the previous decade, and without the sufficient delivery of placements by Local Authorities or Health Boards, this trend will continue. Which each closure, an individual’s choice of and control over their care and support diminishes.

Without a robust and sustainable social care sector, able to promptly place individuals requiring and choosing residential or nursing care, delayed discharge will continue to exert immense pressure on the NHS and other services. More than five million bed days have been lost to delayed discharge since March 2015, at a cost of approximately £1.5 billion.

Never has ring-fenced funding for the social care sector, to meet service demand and support efficiencies across the NHS, been more required. Such funding is notably absent from a Scottish Government budget “that kills”, a very real risk that is summarises by one survey respondent:

“Historically, we had a system aiming to do the right thing but operating poorly, taking too much time to assess and place people appropriately. Now, whether by design or just acceptance, we have a system prepared to let people deteriorate or die without the correct care to save money”. 

We must address the #SocialCareCrisis in Scotland. This begins with the urgent delivery of ring-fenced funding for the adult social care sector to sustain the commissioning of placements within care homes. This is critical to safeguarding a care system that prioritises dignity and delivers high-quality, person-led care. One that looks forward to a future where those delivering or receiving care and support no longer worry about the future.

Dr Donald Macaskill, Chief Executive of Scottish Care, said: 

“Scottish Care’s research demonstrates the profound social injustice of how our crises-driven care home sector operates. People are desperate to move into care homes across Scotland, not least those stuck in our hospitals, and yet local authorities are choosing or simply do not have the money to pay for their care and support. Because of this underfunding, care homes across Scotland are in crisis, and empty beds will lead to care home closures. 

We need a long-term strategy which sustains the care home sector in Scotland rather than what we have at the moment, a reactive, damaging short termism. It is an indignity that we are waiting for two people to die in order for there to be money to pay for one resident.”

 

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Blog – The Great ‘Doughnut Fallacy’ of social care in Scotland 

The Great ‘Doughnut Fallacy’ of social care in Scotland 

Minister for Social Care Marie Todd last week announced changes to the proposed National Care Service (NCS) Bill. The most significant of which is the removal of Part 1 of the bill, which focused on the structural reform of integrated social care and community health. This means the bill will now proceed with only Parts 2 and 3. I can’t help but note the passing of the ‘Welfare of Dogs’ Act in the same week and reflect upon what that means for how we value our citizens. What is crucial now is that we do not wait for the Bill to reform social care. A briefing was sent to all Scottish Care members with more detail, but here’s what we know: 

First, it’s important to acknowledge that the plan for a complete overhaul of the social care system, through the structural reforms in Part 1 of the National Care Service (NCS) Bill, has been dropped. This is where the system arguing with itself about who should run things got in the way of making a difference for people. It’s the great doughnut fallacy of social care. 

During the pandemic we experienced a health takeover of social care. They brought with them outdated ideals of person-centred social care. Whilst this was a positive initiative of its time, over 2 decades ago social care switched to person-led care and support. Person-centred was a way of reinforcing the need of the system to connect with itself with the individual citizen at the centre. However all too often what would happen is that the individual in the centre would find themselves in a vacuum surrounded by a system determining their needs, often to the detriment of the individual. This regression to person-centred caused a culture change which ripped a hole in the heart of the independent review of adult social care and delayed the implementation of meaningful change.  

With the structural reform proving too difficult, I am however reassured by the clear language shift to person-led in the Ministers speech reinforcing the need to remember why we are doing this. Put simply, for people not power. 

So what remains in the bill? 

  • It includes “Anne’s Law”, which appears to strengthen visiting rights in care homes although in practice the role of Public Health still has a power to overrule any decisions, making this legislation have no greater impact that what already exists. 
  • It aims to improve information sharing between health and social care services. Many of you will know data is one of the pedestals I like to climb upon, but that is because it is a real area of opportunity. Especially with the adoption of ethical AI. However, it will only work if it meets a vision to reduce bureaucracy and improve the user experience. I wrote about this with Dr Tara French some years ago now in Seeing the Diamond in Social Care Data, but the principles remain the same. Alongside this, there is a need to embrace digital to augment the care experience, offering people more autonomy and freeing up care workers to get back to delivering care. 
  • There’s also a plan to establish a national care service advisory board. This is meant to be an independent body, including people with lived experience, that will help to improve the quality of care across the country. It will provide advice on national programs to support improvements and will monitor and report on local frameworks. However, it’s not statutory, so it may not be as powerful as it could be. What is important here is how the board can ensure transparency and influence over poor practice in all parts of the system. This will be supported by work on  
  • Ethical commissioning and procurement which remains in the bill. This is where real change towards person-led sustainable and quality care can be made, but only if it is enforceable. Financial constraints and the persistent underfunding of social care and support for a decade has led to a time and task takeover meaning that providers are not commissioned to deliver the care and support that people really need to live well. In addition, delays in payments to care providers are putting them at further risk of collapse because they cannot meet cash flow demands. Providers are closing. Staff are exhausted and undermined. There is additional pressure on families, and worst of all, people are being failed. In response to the statement that Scottish Government has increased funding for social care by 25%, two years earlier than planned. I wonder how much of this has been used to meet public sector pay increases or simply to meet inflationary rises. Funding remains a concern and transparency, and good governance is still needed for system change to embed. 

So there we have a list of what should perhaps be the items for the agenda of the first National Care Service Advisory Board. Whatever happens next, it is critical that changes are person-led and focus on the needs of individuals, ensure care workers are properly supported, care providers experience full economic cost recovery, and that the system is accountable, flexible and efficient. Without these critical foundations, the changes to the NCS bill will not deliver the required improvements of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care and the doughnut fallacy will remain strong. However, if we collaborate with intent, we can have our cake and eat it. 

 

Karen Hedge
Deputy CEO, Scottish Care

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Media Statement: “It Feels Like We Don’t Exist’ – Scottish Care Calls for Urgent Action

“It Feels Like We Don’t Exist”: Scottish Care Reiterates Call for Urgent Action Following Sky News Report  

Scottish Care is deeply concerned with the findings of Sky News’ recent report into the experiences of homecare and housing support providers delivering commissioned care packages, summarised within our Briefing Report.

Specific results from Scottish Care membership are as follows:

  • Over 80% stated that councils have reduced the number of care packages that would previously have been awarded.
  • 90% stated that councils have reduced the overall number of hours commissioned within care packages.
  • Over 90% stated that councils have asked providers’ to complete care tasks that are unrealistic within the commissioned time.

Such reductions place untold stress on the sustainability of vital care providers across Scotland and diminishes access to an adequate level of person-led care. As commissioning and procurement bodies cut packages beyond the true cost of adequate care for our communities, care providers are struggling to stay afloat amongst increasing operational costs:

“For the first time in 27 years I am genuinely scared for our future.” 

Reversing this reduction in service availability is vital, with funding for care providers that is commensurate to the true cost and value of the vital work they do.

Sky News’ report reaffirms the inadequacy of time and task models of commissioning homecare and housing support, typified by 15-minute visits and the lack of person-led care on offer:

“How are carers supposed to provide high quality care if they only have 5 minutes! This is not enough time to take off your jacket let alone assess the persons wellbeing.” 

As opposed to tailored packages that meet the individual needs of service users, carers must complete multiple complex tasks within this narrow timeframe (personal care, medication administration and meal preparation). Increasingly, basic needs cannot be met. Moreover, by removing the vital human element of care, individual citizens feel rushed and undignified.

The results also highlight a breakdown in partnership working between commissioning bodies, providers and service users when making significant decisions regarding the future of a care package:

“We seem to be in a situation where there is no transparency or honesty”. 

The whole adult social care sector must commit to greater communication with providers on any decisions that affect service delivery.

Scottish Care’s recent response to the Scottish Budget describes a “budget that kills”. Sky News report exemplifies this very real risk without sufficient support at all levels of government.

We must address the #SocialCareCrisis in Scotland. This begins with a truly ethical approach to commissioning and procurement that respects the true cost of care, communicates openly with service users and their care providers, and works collaboratively to advance the much needed change away from time and task models of care. These steps are vital to safeguarding a care system that prioritises dignity and delivers high-quality, person-led care.

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Menopause Matters Webinar – 6 February

Scottish Care & alsico – Menopause Matters Webinar 

Exploring Menopause Support in Care Homes (6 February)
1 in 5 care workers say menopause symptoms affect their job performance, and 1 in 10 consider leaving their jobs because of it.

To address this critical issue, Scottish Care is hosting a webinar in collaboration with leading uniform supplier alsico. Building on the success of alsico’s Menopause Matters event at the Care Show last year (learn more here), which brought together some of the UK’s largest care providers—this webinar will focus on practical ways to support staff navigating menopause.

Date: Thursday 6 February
Time: 2pm – 3pm
Location: Teams Webinar

Speakers include:

  • Caroline Deane – Scottish Care
  • Sara Catanzaro – Alsico
  • Flora Neville – Citation
  • Pauline Ritchie – Oakminster Healthcare
  • Alyson Vale – Abbotsford Care
  • Rachel Payne – Bandrum Nursing Home

Topics will cover:

  • Misconceptions about menopause and how to address them
  • The importance of uniform considerations in care homes
  • Exploring practical menopause policies
  • Insights from care home providers implementing menopause-friendly practices

This webinar will share resources, explore ideas, and foster collaboration within Scotland’s care sector to create more supportive workplaces.

Register here

Join us to continue the vital work of improving menopause awareness and support for care workers across Scotland.

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Winter Bulletin 2024

The 2024 Winter Bulletin is now live and brimming with valuable updates, inspiring stories, and highlights from the social care sector. This year’s edition includes a festive feature from pages 26 to 29, showcasing heartwarming stories and creative activities shared by our members. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making this bulletin truly special!

We always welcome your feedback and ideas. If you have thoughts to share or suggestions for future editions, please get in touch at [email protected].

Download bulletin

Winter Bulletin 2024 FINAL-compressed