Building a National Care Service in Scotland has been hailed as "the most ambitious reform of public services since the creation of the NHS".
The Scottish Government has today published a Bill which will pave the way for a massive shake-up of how social care is provided.
The legislation is not a full nationalisation of the sector but will make care firm bosses directly accountable to SNP ministers.
It is intended to ensure fair employment practices and introduce national pay bargaining for care workers.
Unpaid carers will also be given a right to breaks.
But Scottish Labour branded the bill as a "powergrab" that would strip more responsibilities from local councils.
The Record has championed the campaign to improve the country’s care system with failings highlighted in the coronavirus pandemic.
While the NHS is publicly owned and free at the point of need, social care is largely provided by private companies who follow local authority guidelines.
This has created a patchwork system across the country with standards varying by region.
Launching the legislation on a visit to Aberdeen, Humza Yousaf said: "This is the most ambitious reform of public services since the creation of the NHS.
"People have told us they want a National Care Service, accountable to Scottish ministers, with services designed and delivered locally.
"That’s exactly what we are going to deliver.
"The design of the NCS will have human rights embedded throughout, and the actual shape and detail of how the NCS works will be designed with those who have direct experience of accessing and providing social care.
“We are going to end the postcode lottery of care in Scotland. Through the National Care Service we’re going to ensure everyone has access to consistently high-quality care and support so they can live a full life.
"This is our ambitious goal and while it will not be easy to achieve it is vital that we do.”
Social Care Minister Kevin Stewart said: "One of the key benefits of a National Care Service will be to ensure our social care and social work workforce are valued, and that unpaid carers get the recognition they deserve.
"When this Bill passes we will be able to have the new National Care Service established by the end of this parliament. In the interim we will continue to take steps to improve outcomes for people accessing care - working with key partners, including local government, and investing in the people who deliver community health and social care and support.”
But the legislation stops short of preventing private health companies from profiting by proving care.
Unison, the country's largest trade union, has warned the proposals from the will remove legal responsibility for social care from democratically elected councils in favour of quangos - with no attempt to remove the market or the profit motive from the sector.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour health spokeswoman, said: "What this represents is nothing less than the biggest power grab in the history of Holyrood – one that threatens the very existence of local government in Scotland.
"After years of steadfast opposition to a National Care Service, the SNP is now using the creation of such a service to disempower local government and centralise yet more power.
"The wholesale transfer of over 100,000 staff away from local government is a recipe for chaos and uncertainty and people receiving services may suffer as a result.
"Make no mistake – this is not a National Care Service. What the SNP and their friends in big business have devised is a national commissioning service which can be used as a fig leaf for centralising power.
"The people of Scotland, especially those who work or live in care, deserve so much better than this."
Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of the Scottish Lib Dems, said his party remained firmly opposed to the creation of a National Care Service.
He told the Record: "The Scottish Government is trying to dress this up in the clothes of our beloved NHS but it is not comparable.
"The NHS was forged in the rubble and poverty of war and was designed to offer care that was free at the point of delivery.
"People will still have to pay for social care, particularly in care homes.
"We also believe this is a massive ministerial power-grab. We don't believe bureaucrats in the central belt know better on how to deliver at-home care, or residential care, in places like Caithness or Shetland than they do up in those places right now.
"And all at a time there is a massive squeeze on public finances - this is going to cost money to set-up, it's going money to run, and it's going to disempower local authorities."
To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here.
READ NEXT:
