ALLIANCE call on MSPs to back Care Reform Bill at Stage 3, but note missed opportunity on social care reform
- Area of Work: Policy and Research
- Type: News Item
- Published: 9th June 2025
MSPs should vote in favour of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill, but transformational change in social care remains an urgent priority.
Ahead of the Stage 3 debate and vote on the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill in the Scottish Parliament on 10 June 2025, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) have published a briefing for MSPs setting out our position on the Bill. The ALLIANCE recommends a vote in favour of the Bill, as well as in favour of amendment 2 on citizens right of access to and control over care records, and amendments 72 and 73 on a clear definition of independent advocacy.
The Bill contains a number of provisions that have the potential to further people’s human rights and improve the health and social care services they need. These include a right to breaks for carers, Anne’s Law, and improving access to independent advocacy.
However, the ALLIANCE also believes the Bill is an opportunity missed. When it was introduced in June 2022 as the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill, it represented an opportunity for long-overdue transformational change in social care, and an opportunity to implement the recommendations of the Independent Review of Adult Social Care (the Feeley Review).
The ALLIANCE is disappointed by the dropping of large parts of the Bill, including all the legislative commitments. While we have been consistently clear the Bill did not meet the need for the transformational change people needing social care support have called for, and required substantial amendment, the removal of all commitments from primary legislation to social care system reform leaves an uncertain future. It remains unclear what social care reforms will be delivered and when.
As we described in our recent joint paper with partner organisations, ‘The National Care Service – Where Now?‘, the last four years demonstrate that significant cross-party support, collective institutional effort and meaningful stakeholder involvement will be essential to advance reform over the long term. The work to ensure this happens must start now.
You can read the full briefing via the resource links below.
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