ALLIANCE responds to further National Care Service Bill delay
- Area of Work: Policy and Research, Social Care
- Type: News Item
- Published: 14th November 2024
The ALLIANCE shares our disappointment that the NCS Bill has been delayed, and that it may be scrapped.
Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport, Maree Todd, has announced that the Scottish Government will be delaying the next stage of consideration of the National Care Service (NCS) Bill.
Whilst the Scottish Government states that they “remain committed to creating a National Care Service”, they have shared that they “wish to take the time that is needed to fully reflect the views of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, lived experience stakeholders, members of the public and political parties”.
Initially, the Stage 2 consideration of the Bill was planned to begin on the 26 November. However, Ms. Todd has asked for more time to address outstanding issues and will agree a new timetable for the New Year.
In response to the delays announced today, the ALLIANCE’s Chief Officer of Development Sara Redmond has issued the following statement:
“The ALLIANCE are incredibly disappointed at further delays, and reports that the National Care Service may be scrapped. People who have experience of receiving – or trying to access – social care have explained at length how the current system often fails to meet their needs or uphold their human rights and dignity. The National Care Service was meant to be a desperately needed reform that would raise standards, end the postcode lottery, fully implement Self-directed Support, ensure accountability, and properly value unpaid carers and the workforce.
“Instead, people have been let down by a process that became a bureaucratic dispute between the Scottish and Local Governments about who should have the responsibility for social care, rather than how to meet that responsibility. Alongside the third sector, people with lived experience have invested huge amounts of time, energy and emotion in trying to make the NCS work. We cannot afford to let that effort go to waste by leaving social care in its current state.
“The recommendations of the Feeley Review remain relevant, and it is vital that they are implemented to the greatest extent possible. We urge the Scottish Government and all parties to make social care reform their top priority and bring forward alternative proposals as quickly as they can. The ALLIANCE will continue to engage positively and constructively with all efforts to build and invest in the human rights based social care system that the people of Scotland need and deserve.”
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