Scottish Budget 2024-25 could go further for social care and social security

The budget includes some positive measures at a tough time, but falls short in key areas.

The Scottish Government yesterday (19 December) published the draft 2024-25 Scottish Budget, setting out their spending plans for the coming year. In her statement to the Scottish Parliament, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance Shona Robison emphasised the difficult financial circumstances facing the Scottish Government, arguing that the UK Government bear significant responsibility due to the impact of cuts to the wider UK budget.

In our briefing to MSPs ahead of the budget, the ALLIANCE called for further investment in health, social care and social security to be prioritised, including through increasing the Scottish Child Payment from £25 to £30 per week; increasing other devolved social security payments in line with inflation; scrapping non-residential social care charges; and going beyond £12 per hour in pay for social care workers. We also called for more support for the third sector and argued that a Council Tax freeze was the wrong priority, whilst urging the Scottish Government to carefully consider how to use its existing tax powers to maximise revenues in a fair way.

Amongst the measures announced by the Deputy First Minister were:

• The introduction of a 45% rate of income tax for incomes between £75,000 and £125,140, increasing the current top rate of tax from 47% to 48%, and freezing the thresholds for higher and top rate tax, collectively raising £389mn in additional revenue,
• Increasing devolved social security payments by 6.7%, in line with inflation in September, including increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £26.70 per week,
• An above real-terms increase in funding for the NHS,
• Continued investment in health and social care integration,
• and funding a Council Tax freeze in line with an assumed 5% increase, at a cost of £144 million.

The budget did not contain any specific measures to support the third sector beyond general business rates reliefs that may already apply to some organisations, nor did it commit to scrapping social care charges. Increasing the Scottish Child Payment by a further £3.30 per week to meet widespread calls for £30 would have required investment of approximately £55 million, significantly below the cost of the untargeted Council Tax Freeze.

Commenting on the draft budget Sara Redmond, ALLIANCE Chief Officer – Development, said:

“The ALLIANCE recognises the extremely difficult financial circumstances facing the Scottish Government, rooted in ongoing austerity measures and chronic underinvestment in public services on the part of the UK Government. We welcome that in spite of this, the Scottish Government have prioritised the re-opening of the Independent Living Fund, investment in the NHS, and uprating devolved social security payments in line with inflation.

However, we share the disappointment of partners across the sector at the prioritisation given to a Council Tax freeze. Meeting calls to increase the Scottish Child Payment to £30 per week rather than the £26.70 announced by the Deputy First Minister would cost only a third as much as the freeze yet deliver significantly more support to those in greatest need.

We are also concerned by the continued significant differential in pay between the health and social care workforces, which does not live up to stated aspirations to value social care and social care workers. In addition, we are disappointed by the seeming invisibility of the third sector in this year’s budget, with no meaningful progress on fair funding at a time when it has been stretched to the limit.”

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