The creation of a national care service should have been one of the most important policies of the current parliamentary term.
The NCS is meant to replace a fragmented system rooted in low pay and replace it with a national system for the care of our older citizens. Driving up standards in social care and harmonising staff terms and conditions are long overdue and the NCS seemed to be the solution.
It has been described as the biggest public-sector reform in Scotland since the NHS was created after WWII. But scrutiny of the Bill underpinning the plan has revealed major difficulties. Holyrood’s finance committee said they had “significant concerns” about the lack of detailed costs.
Even SNP MSPs have raised objections to the NCS. Falkirk East’s Michelle Thomson said the lack of financial information was “deeply worrying”, while long-standing MSP Kenneth Gibson described the proposals as a “monumental” risk.
Our story today suggests the 2026 date for the service becoming operational could be in doubt. Acting Finance Secretary John Swinney delivers his Budget this week and he is looking for savings.
One idea is to pause most of the funding earmarked next year for getting the NCS up and running. This would free up cash, possibly up to £80million, but also raise questions about the policy. The Government has a job on its hands to win over the doubters and address concerns over the costs of the new service. The NCS is an excellent idea and too important to get wrong.
Shake up tax now
The failure to abolish or reform the council tax is one of the biggest disappointments of devolution. This archaic property-based tax is a relic of John Major’s Government and a regressive way of funding services.
Research by the Robertson Trust shows 12 per cent of low-income households are behind on council tax bills. It also reveals 51 per cent of those in council arrears have had to cut back on meal sizes and calls for more people to be exempt from the tax.x
The campaigners want struggling households to be taken out of the council tax system. One option would be to extend council tax benefit to all low-income households.
Another could be to remove anyone in receipt of Universal Credit. Meanwhile, wealthy households in homes worth a fortune could pay more. What should not be in doubt is that the current system lets down hard-pressed families that simply can’t afford to pay.
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