National Care Service campaign

The Scottish Government is putting a Bill through Parliament to set up a National Care Service (NCS), the bill leaves profiteering at the heart of care, and will outsource a huge range of functions; all of social work and social care out of councils, and an unknown number of responsibilities out of the NHS.    This threatens the employment and pensions of tens of thousands of workers, and meaning a huge sum of money will be spent on structural change rather then on improving services.

This page will be a hub for UNISON Scotland’s information and resources about UNISON Scotland’s campaign to have the current Bill withdrawn and for the Scottish Government to start again and come up with plans for aa real national Care Service.

We are asking all UNISON members to contact their MSPs, many of whom are still unaware of what the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill contains.

  • You can email your MSPs using this one click link here.
  • UNISON Scotland has prepared a short guide to the Bill, its main provisions, and the implications of a measure that is an unequivocal attack on the idea of publicly delivered public services. You can view the guide here.
Press Release

Staff at social care charity Enable Scotland to be consulted on new pay offer, says UNISON

Hundreds of staff working for Enable Scotland are to be consulted on a new pay offer which puts an additional ...
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Care Management: Fit for Purpose?

This report reveals a Care Management system that is on its knees, with decisions about care being driven by budgets, ...
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National Care Service Bill (Stage 2) Draft Amendments: Call for Views

On 24 June the Scottish Government belatedly published its draft amendments to the National Care Service (Scotland) bill. This is ...
Press Release

Strike ballots to be issued to staff working in social care charity

Hundreds of staff working for Enable, one of Scotland’s largest charitable social care providers, are to be asked if they're ...
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Briefing 146 – Local Government Benchmarking report

The Improvement Service have published their twelfth annual "Local Government Benchmarking Framework Report"  The report is compiled for CoSLA & ...
thumbnail of Briefing 145 NCS Bill stage 2 local government implications

Briefing 145 : NCS Bill Stage 2 Issues for Local Government

This briefing explains the proposals - at least the ones the Scottish Government have published - in Stage 2 of ...
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Briefing 144: National Social Work Agency – NCS Bill Stage 2 Amendments

This briefing gives an update on plans for a National Social Work Agency now that the  Scottish Government has published ...
thumbnail of Policy Briefing 143 IJB Reforms NCS July 2024

Briefing 143 National Care Service Bill: Reform of Integrated Joint Boards

This briefing gives an overview of the IJB reforms set out in the government’s Stage 2 amendments to the NCS ...
Pay care workers the ‘missing millions’

Pay care workers the ‘missing millions’

UNISON social care workers, with unite and GMB, demonstrated outside the Scottish Parliament on Thursday calling for answers to the ...
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Briefing 141 – National Care Service Bill Update

The General Principles of the National Care Service Bill were approved by Parliament on 29 February. This briefing summarises where ...