How is the SNP improving social care services?
For the 2025-26 financial year, the SNP as the Scottish Government invested £125 million to enable adult social care workers in the third and private sectors to be paid at least the Real Living Wage rate.
This takes the overall total investment to deliver this policy to over £950 million.
In Scotland we already pay £12.60 per hour minimum pay rate and this rate is higher than the National Living Wage which applies to many social care workers in England and Northern Ireland; with these workers receiving 39p less per hour than social care workers will receive in Scotland.
We are proud to have led the way in increasing enhanced minimum hourly rates of pay for the adult social care workforce among the four UK nations.
The Scottish Government have a long-standing commitment to the principles of Fair Work for the social care sector and this has not wavered.
The 2025-26 Budget sees £2.2 billion for social care and integration – exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25% over this parliament – a full two years earlier than planned.
The Budget:
- Provides an uplift to the minimum rate of pay for adult social care staff to £12.60 per hour
- Introduces a 21.5% increase to Independent Living Fund – providing crucial support to disabled persons to enable them to live fulfilling and independent lives
- Delivers a 62.5% increase to the Voluntary Short Breaks Fund, to £13m – providing preventative short break support for adult and young carers
We want everyone to have access to consistently high-quality social care support across Scotland, whenever they might need it, and we also want our social care workforce to flourish.
The Westminster Labour government’s reckless decision to increase employer National Insurance contributions is having a detrimental impact on Scotland’s social care services:
- Care homes are warning that if they are subject to this increase in employer national insurance contributions, they will either have to scale down their services or pass on costs to their residents
- 659 Scottish care homes are currently run by private organisations, supporting 25,853 older people across Scotland, and are now facing increasing their national insurance contributions.
The SNP’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care announced £500,000 of funding to mitigate the devastating impact of the UK Government’s closure of the care worker visa route.
Targeted support will be provided to displaced social care workers to come to Scotland and continue their careers working within the Adult Social Care sector.
Work to finalise the scheme is underway, with further details to follow.
A one-size-fits-all approach to immigration fails to meet the needs of Scotland and much of the UK.