Members update from ALLIANCE Chief Officer

Dear members

It was great to spend time with so many of you at our annual conference on 30 April. The energy with which topics were discussed demonstrated the strength our membership brings to the challenges and opportunities we face.  

At times I felt the frustration when people talked about examples where people’s human rights were not being respected or fulfilled. Many said they had been speaking up about these issues for a long time. I was also struck by the examples people shared evidencing the influence we have when we work together through collective action. Despite the challenges, I came away with a sense of hope.  

Tackling health inequalities  

Keynote speaker, Sir Michael Marmot powerfully set out that the health of our population tells us how well our needs are being met as a society.  We know that the last decade of austerity has worsened our health outcomes. Yet he was clear that action can and should be taken. It was welcome to hear him prioritising community engagement and the role of the third sector for the action which is needed.  

He did not let national government off the hook. A government serious about improving health must put health and wellbeing at the centre of their strategy. This was not my takeaway from reading the programme for government, published last week. There were commitments which we have welcomed. However, rather than a narrow focus on growing the economy I would have liked to have seen a commitment again to a wellbeing economy. 

Health and social care reform  

During the annual conference I hosted a session on healthcare inequalities. A strong takeaway message was that we must consider the needs of people who are currently not using health services or face barriers. The ALLIANCE will continue our work with you to make sure that these issues are taken into account by future plans surrounding the reform agenda. 

Last week we hosted a members’ event on the NHS Service Reform and Renewal Framework, welcoming over 50 members to reflect on key opportunities, challenges and priorities for the development of the service renewal framework. 

The framework, set for publication at the end of June 2025, aims to set out broad plans for the transformation of healthcare over the next 10 years.  It will be designed on a set of principles to help Scottish Government plan and design services. The draft principles being considered are: prevention first, population first, community first, people first and digital first.   

We will sharing a short event report in the coming weeks. 

Long term conditions strategy  

Scottish Government has also recently launched its consultation on the long term conditions strategy. We are currently reviewing this strategy and will be engaging with members to gather your views. If you would like to comment, please contact our policy team at policy@alliance-scotland.org.uk 

National Care Service and where next for social care 

The ALLIANCE and our members have been heavily engaged in plans for the National Care Service over the past 4 years. I remember the feeling of hope so many of us felt after the Independent Review of Adult Social Care, that we might finally get the radical reform so badly needed to our social care system. The failure to deliver on this has been a growing concern for the ALLIANCE.  This was reinforced in January when the Minister announced that many sections of the Bill would be dropped.  

At the same time, we have continued to hear about challenges people are facing trying to access social care. We also continue to hear about the funding challenges facing member organisations. Similarly, we were disappointed to see a lack of clear focus around social care reflected in the Programme for Government and have released a statement to this affect. 

At the end of 2024, the ALLIANCE came together with five other organisations with a similar interest in social care reform because of our concerns about the National Care Service. We felt excluded from some critical decisions which were being taken. We also felt that lessons needed to be learned from the delays and failed process. 

Last week we published a report, available on our website, which has been shared with Scottish Government, local government, political party spokespeople, and other interested parties. The report considers the lessons of the last four years and sets out what we believe to be four key priorities to reform social care.  

We hope that the report encourages the political parties and layers of government to understand the urgency for reform.  

Inclusive communication campaign   

This month the Scottish Sensory Hub will be launching an inclusive communication campaign, ‘More than Words’. We welcome your engagement with the campaign and its message. Our aim is to build awareness of communication as a human right that must be protected and fulfilled.  

We have been concerned by some stepping back of Scottish Government on commitments to better protect the right to communication. This includes the decision not to publish a refreshed See Hear strategy. It also stepped back on a commitment to include a new duty on public authorities on inclusive communication as part of the Public Sector Equality Duty.  

We welcome the intention of Scottish Government to publish an equality and human rights mainstreaming strategy and disability equality plan. However, more needs to be done.  

The campaign will help to raise awareness so that people can understand they have a right to communicate. We will also continue to make the case for a Human Rights Bill which would require public authorities by law to comply with their duties under the international human rights frameworks.  

Social security planned changes 

We have been concerned by recent proposals from the UK Government on changes to social security support. The ‘pathways to work’ green paper sadly sets out plans for more austerity. A policy approach which has already caused so much damage to people’s health and wellbeing.  

The plans include new eligibility requirements for Personal Independence Payments. This could remove money from the Scottish budget which may have an impact on Social Security Scotland entitlements. The UK Government also plans to reduce the health element of universal credit. The reason they give misrepresents the issue. They acknowledge that the standard allowance of Universal Credit has fallen to such a low level that it does not provide an adequate standard of living. They also acknowledge the current system is punitive and it can feel impossible to meet the requirements.      

However, it is another example of the government failing to understand the ways our population’s health has been impacted by the spending cuts over the past 10 to 15 years. The motivation is on reducing public spending despite pushing people into poverty. The last decade clearly evidences that austerity is unlikely to promote economic growth. Instead, the social security system must provide for an adequate standard of living.  We will be making this case in our response.  

There were some other proposals which we will be watching out for. This includes the UK Government’s plans to review ‘access to work’ and on proposals to shape the market on assistive technologies.   

Labour market inclusion 

Both UK and Scottish Governments are planning work to respond to the growing numbers of people who are out of work because of health reasons.  

The Deputy First Minister has been leading on this work in Scotland. There were some commitments made in the programme for government relevant to this. This includes a review of the employability programme. Rolling out Specialist Employability Support and piloting actions which employers can take. At the UK level the ‘Get Britain Working’ white paper sets out its plans. This will include a reform of the service provided by Job Centre Plus.  

Our view is that the experiences of people with long term conditions, disabled people and unpaid carers are not integrated enough into these proposals. We have reached out to Scottish Government for a meeting. We have also been scoping work we could undertake to address the lack of involvement.  

In sharing this detailed roundup, we want to ensure our members stay informed about our work and Scottish Government policy and practice. If you would like any further information or to have your voice heard on any of the issues discussed, please contact the membership team at membership@alliance-scotland.org.uk.