This briefing looks at the implications of current and projected demographic change. It summarises recent publications from the Improvement Service.
There is a rising demand for services and pressures on budgets from an aging and increasingly unwell population and at the same time a declining population of working age to deliver and help fund these services.
This is already creating significant pressures on public services and contributing to the financial difficulties of councils, health boards and IJBs.
We need both a Scotland-specific migration policy and investment in social housing and public services to tackle these challenges and prevent a looming crisis.