SOCIAL care in Scotland is in “severe crisis” and SNP plans for a national care service fail to address it, according to trade unionists today.

Unison, GMB and trade councils from both Glasgow and Edinburgh came together to demand change in social care at the STUC Congress.

But they believe that current proposals from the SNP Scottish government to introduce a national care service are deeply flawed.

The service in Scotland is experiencing a recruitment and retention crisis, with the most recent available statistics showing a staggering 43 per cent vacancy rate in adult social care in Scotland in 2020.

A motion to conference states that “years of spending cuts and a race to the bottom by private care employers on terms and conditions have resulted in a recruitment crisis within care and lower-quality care provision due to profit being put before people.”

The concerns raised about profit motives in the sector have not, however, been allayed by the SNP’s plans for a national care service, Congress heard.

Almost a decade ago, the SNP passed the Public Bodies (Joint Working) Act which merged primary care and social care under Integrated Joint Boards (IJB), effectively leaving council social work departments as contractors to the IJBs.

Unions argue that, as with integration, they had no principled objection to a national care service but, according to Unison’s Stephen Low, the current proposals would amount to a “wholesale removal of statutory powers, duties and responsibilities from councils.”

Having encountered hostility to the proposals, then Health Secretary Humza Yousaf pledged to “overhaul” the draft National Care Service (Scotland) Bill during his contest to become SNP leader. 

Now the first minister, he has delayed the vote on the matter until after the summer recess.

But Mr Low believes that it will take more than a pause to remedy what ails it and was damning as he spoke to the Morning Star about the Bill, calling it a “shambles on stilts.”

He told the Star: “If the Bill goes through in the way that the Scottish government intends, then councils will have as much responsibility for social work as they have for space exploration — arguably less as launchpads need planning permission.

“Let us be clear, this is the biggest assault on public-sector services since the Thatcher era.”