The Government has finally abandoned its plans to create a National Care Service (NCS). This was confirmed to Parliament on 23 January 2025.
UNISON supports a NCS but not the version that was contained in the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill. UNISON was one of the first organisations to warn about the Bill’s damaging implications. For 3 years UNISON engaged with MSPs and Ministers to seek its withdrawal while advocating for the social care workforce and for our alternative REAL National Care Service. We argued that hugely costly structural change was not the answer to the social care crisis, and that the Bill has always been a distraction from the most important actions needed to tackle this:
- delivering sectoral bargaining for social care and the improvements to pay, terms and conditions needed to address the staffing crisis and eliminate understaffing.
- proper resourcing of councils and the NHS and action to remove profit from care.
This briefing explains the Government’s plans now.