On 1 September 2020, an Independent Review of Adult Social Care was announced by the Scottish Government, chaired by Derek Feeley and tasked with reporting by January 2021.

Scottish Care developed a submission of key recommendations to inform the Independent Review, which outlined what we deem to be priority areas for focus.  These areas are as follows:

• The distinctive role of social care
• Choice and SDS
• Commissioning and business models
• Cost and return
• Human rights and equalities
• Consistent regulation
• Workforce value
• Creativity and innovation

Building on this submission, Scottish Care was invited to develop an ‘ideas-focused’ paper as a further input to the Review by the deadline of 6 November 2020.

Given that the challenges and barriers that exist in a social care context have been articulated and documented at length – including by Scottish Care – we recognise the need for a Review to move beyond recommendations towards action and commitment to enact change.

We have therefore developed this paper, entitled ‘What If and Why Not? Making the Future of Social Care A Reality’, as an opportunity to present a positive yet actionable future perspective and encourage dialogue and debate on what the future could and should look like. The paper represents a different approach than usual Scottish Care reports and responses, but we see it as an important part of a wider approach to ensuring the specific experiences, concerns and aspirations of Scottish Care members and different parts of the sector are represented in such a critical process of review.

This paper is designed to be complementary to the series of engagement sessions which Scottish Care members took part in as part of the Review process.  These sessions provided a direct opportunity to present the challenges and experiences of the social care reality from the perspective of social care providers and other stakeholders.  The paper reframes the challenges that are documented extensively in previous research and reports to present these as possibilities to inform the review process.

In the paper we offer a collection of social care narratives and ‘what if’ questions, underpinned by a Scottish Care evidence review, as a way to engage imaginations across all sectors and stakeholders towards creating a positive future for social care in Scotland.

We hope to use the paper as part of wider discussions and collaborative work with stakeholders and partners across Scotland in order to positively shape the future of social care.

If you would like to discuss the paper further, please contact Becca Young or Dr Tara French at [email protected]

SC What If and Why Not Making the Future of Social Care a Reality Nov 20