Scottish council leaders have called for Nicola Sturgeon’s government to suspend its plans for a new national care service, in a growing battle over funding.
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), the umbrella body for the country’s 32 councils, said setting up the service would be unjustifiably costly and disruptive during a time of financial crisis.
Scottish ministers argue that it would produce the biggest and most valuable improvement in public services since the establishment of the NHS in 1947, by merging social care, elderly care, family support and community healthcare into a single service.
But the proposals, which could be replicated in England if Labour wins the next general election, have been widely criticised for being poorly thought through, very costly and much more unwieldy than ministers admit.
A cross-party committee at Holyrood expressed “significant concern” in early December about its setup and running costs, and whether it would be genuinely cost-effective. Ministers estimate it could cost between £664m and £1.26bn to establish over the next five years.
Scotland’s councils, many of which are run by the Scottish National party, are furious the measures are being pursued after being told to expect a significant real-terms funding cut from April.
John Swinney, the acting finance secretary, claimed in December his proposals would increase council funding from April by £550m – a figure being challenged by Cosla. The cap on council tax increases would also be scrapped, to increase their fundraising options.
Paul Kelly, Cosla’s health and social care spokesperson, said that figure included policy areas controlled by the government, including schools. Once those were excluded, councils had only received an extra £70m. Taking inflation into account, that meant a real-terms funding cut.
Cosla estimates it needs £1bn extra next year, to meet all its obligations. “It is inconceivable that the Scottish government has put forward a budget that would see real-terms cuts to frontline care services, whilst proceeding with centralising structural reforms,” Kelly said.
“Improvements to care could progress faster and with more impact if services were properly resourced and did not face the distraction of structural reform. Instead, we are presented with reorganisation and real-terms cuts, which will have a significant impact on the delivery of care.”
Kelly, a Labour councillor and deputy leader of North Lanarkshire council, said the national care service would involve significant disruption for councils: about 75,000 council employees, including social workers and care staff, would be transferred to it. Councils would become hollowed-out, as a result.
Meanwhile, the government expected councils to be involved in designing the new care service, which would be under ministerial control.
Katie Hagmann, Cosla’s resources spokesperson, said they would be pressing Swinney to greatly improve on the funding offer for next year, before his budget goes to its final vote at Holyrood in coming weeks.
An SNP councillor, Hagmann said the current offer would mean essential but non-statutory services such as youth work, arts and culture, libraries and sports facilities would be cut across Scotland.
She said those services were more essential during a financial crisis, and would help prevent health and social problems in future. “In order to avoid being in a crisis point, we need to start investing at an earlier stage, to keep people physically and mentally healthy,” she said.
Kevin Stewart, Scotland’s social care minister, said the draft budget was increasing funding for health and care services.
“The national care service is the biggest public sector reform in Scotland since devolution. Our aim is to end the postcode lottery in care provision,” he said.
“We have a twin approach of delivering improvements now and working with people with lived experience to ensure the NCS to ensure the new system better meets the needs of the people of Scotland long into the future.”
