31 August 2026

CCPS Comment on the publication of Health and Care Improving Flow Plan 2026 -2031

We welcome publication of the Scottish Government’s plan, but note that it leaves several key questions about the role of social care unanswered

“The publication of the Scottish Government’s Improving Flow Plan is an important indication and a welcome recognition that Scotland needs reform across health and social care if people are to receive the support they need at the right time and in the right place.

“While the plan focuses on pressures within acute hospitals and the NHS, it leaves important questions about the role of social care still to be answered. If Scotland is serious about shifting the balance of care from hospitals into communities, social care must be recognised as a central part of the design and delivery of a solution.

“Flow is about ensuring people can access the right health and social care support when they need it; it is not simply about moving patients through hospitals. We know through our own reports that too many people continue to wait for the care and support they need in their communities. Yet the plan says very little about social care waiting times, eligibility thresholds, or how capacity within community services will be increased. Third sector organisations deliver a significant proportion of Scotland’s social care and must now be fully involved in shaping how these ambitions are translated into practice.

“The ambition for earlier discharge and discharge planning from the point of admission is welcome. Achieving this will require funding and commissioning arrangements that enable providers to maintain the capacity needed to respond quickly when people are ready to leave hospital. Current contracting approaches can make this difficult, undermining the flexibility and long-term planning required to deliver efficient and effective discharge. Equally, there is not yet a clear financial plan showing how resources will shift alongside responsibilities. With reports of the 2027-28 budget being £700m short, transparency on how funds will be allocated to meet aspirations is key.

“Although we welcome the plan’s ambition and direction, the actions set out to transform community-based support must be bolder still. The plan has the potential to make a significant difference, but only if social care and community services are empowered and resourced to play the role expected of them. Immediate actions listed do not yet address this priority, despite the government today acknowledging the instability in the social care sector.

“With the upcoming five-year Programme for Government, we look forward to seeing what plans the Scottish Government has for social care and support and as we head towards the Scottish Budget, we look forward to working with ministers, officials and partners. Our members stand ready to bring their expertise and frontline experience to help create a bolder vision for delivery of care and sport that will genuinely meet the contract with Scotland’s people articulated in today’s report.”

 

 

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9 June 2026

Social care cannot run on goodwill alone

Our 2026 Workforce Priorities report sets out why action on pay, progression and investment can’t wait, writes CCPS’s Policy Manager Alison Christie

Scotland’s social care workforce makes an extraordinary contribution, but it cannot keep being asked to do more with less.

Published this week, CCPS’s Workforce Priorities 2026 report draws on the experiences of our members across adult and children’s services and sends a clear message: if ministers want a resilient, sustainable social care system, they need to invest in the people who deliver it.

This is a workforce that builds relationships, supports people to live full lives, and strengthens families, communities and the economy. Yet too often, that contribution is praised in principle while undervalued in practice.

The warning from members is stark. As one put it: “We can’t expect goodwill to carry people forever.”

A workforce under pressure

The pressure on the workforce is no longer a warning sign. It is a daily reality. Recruitment and retention remain major challenges, with low pay continuing to drive turnover and deepen instability across services.

The pay gap tells its own story. In 2019, the difference between not-for-profit social care workers and their NHS counterparts stood at £2,400. By April 2025, it had widened to £3,770. That is not sustainable for a sector expected to recruit, retain and reward skilled staff.

At the same time, changes to UK visa rules have led to an 88% drop in Health and Care Worker visas for caring roles, squeezing an already stretched labour market even further.

The case for investment

The answer is not complicated. If Scotland is serious about reform, it has to be serious about investment. Underfunding remains the single biggest barrier to building the workforce social care needs.

That means matching warm words about the value of social care with real action on pay and conditions. These are skilled, regulated roles that demand judgement, responsibility and continual learning. Funding decisions need to reflect that reality.

It also means creating careers people can stay in. Flat structures and weak pay progression in senior roles are hindering retention and making it harder to build a stable, experienced workforce for the future.

As the report puts it: “Social care must be understood for its significant and tangible contribution to individual, family, community and economic wellbeing. Investing in social care and its staff is an investment in people.”

“CCPS and its members stand ready to work collaboratively with partners across the system to develop workforce policies that deliver parity of esteem, pay, and conditions between third sector providers and public sector employers.”

Learning, leadership and the long term

The same applies to learning and development. Training, qualifications and continuous professional learning should help people grow and stay in the sector. Too often, they are still shaped by fragmented systems, outdated thresholds and unnecessary bureaucracy.

CCPS members called for qualification frameworks that better reflect real-world practice and properly funded education pathways.

For those working with children and young people, the message is just as urgent. The ambitions of The Promise will not be met without long-term investment in the workforce expected to deliver it.

Members also called for improvements to leadership development, saying that there is currently too much emphasis on management compliance. Instead, we need leadership that is relational, values-driven and capable of building strong workplace cultures.

And while digital change matters, social care will always depend on human connection. Change and improvement cannot be built around systems alone. It has to be built around people.

A shared starting point

The challenge now is clear. Scotland cannot keep relying on the dedication of a workforce that is too often underpaid, undervalued and stretched beyond what is sustainable.

CCPS and its members stand ready to work collaboratively with partners across the system to develop workforce policies that deliver parity of esteem, pay, and conditions between third sector providers and public sector employers.

A central part of this approach is introducing sectoral bargaining in the voluntary social care sector. This must be done with the Scottish Government, third sector employers, and trade unions having an equal voice at the negotiating table.

If social care is truly valued, that value must be reflected in funding, pay, career progression, and long-term workforce planning.

Read our Workforce Priorities 2026 report

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8 January 2026

New report shows Scottish people can’t get the best NHS care without investment in social care

CCPS is calling on the Scottish Government to prioritise increased social care investment in next week’s Budget after a report highlighted the scale of unnecessary NHS spending on delayed discharges.

The report published by Audit Scotland today estimates that over £440 million was spent in NHS Scotland last year on delayed discharge – the cost of individuals remaining in hospital despite being medically ready to leave.  

The findings of today’s report are, in large part, a symptom of the historic underfunding of Scotland’s social care system. While the reasons behind delayed discharges vary, a common reason is a lack of social care and support available when a person is ready to leave hospital.  

The report says that 720,119 hospital bed days were lost in 2024/5 due to a delayed discharge, and “the full costs to the health and social care system are likely to be much higher” than the £440 million quoted. 

But this is not just about money, it is about people who are being kept in hospital when they don’t need to be there, and the report highlights that “each delay has a detrimental effect on the individual’s physical and mental wellbeing”. 

CCPS members provide services to hundreds of thousands of individuals across Scotland, supporting disabled people, older people, people with learning disabilities, children, families and many others. 

Yet at a time when demand for the services they offer is rising, the lack of sustainable funding means far too many providers are needing to scale back the services they can offer.  

At the end of 2025, a survey conducted among our members found that nearly half of respondents had to reduce the support available in the first six months of 2025-26, negatively impacting an estimated 4,645 beneficiaries. Meanwhile, over 40% were anticipating reducing support in the second half of this year, impacting an estimated 3,858 beneficiaries. 

“While the sector has proven itself to be resilient, it is increasingly being stretched too thin, and its long-term viability now rests on sustainable social care funding to ensure both people, and our NHS, can flourish,” Rachel Cackett, CCPS CEO, said. 

“Today’s report shows that the Scottish Government’s approach to social care funding needs to change. The Budget next week offers a prime opportunity for the Scottish Government to do that, prioritising the sector and taking the first steps towards building the rights-based, sustainable system of social care Scotland needs and deserves.   

“The delayed discharge figures make it clear that the government can’t keep taking the same approach to social care funding year after year and expect a different result. We need a comprehensive plan to guarantee our sector’s long-term, sustainable funding – and to ensure people have choice and control over their care – and we need it now.” 

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28 April 2025

The National Care Service: Where Now?

Six sector membership organisations have joined together to produce a paper to help drive urgently needed reform of social care now, as the 2026 Scottish election approaches, and in the next Parliament

Following January’s collapse of proposals to set up a National Care Service through legislation – and ongoing uncertainty about effective next steps – a new paper shares key thinking on the priorities for social care reform.

Rooted in the vision set out in Derek Feeley’s highly regarded 2021 recommendations for social care reform, this paper has been developed by six membership organisations representing the interests of people supported by social care, unpaid carers and social care providers.

CCPS, the Coalition of Carers, Glasgow Disability Alliance, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland, Inclusion Scotland and Scottish Care want this contribution to help drive much-needed, long-promised reform with full cross-party support now, as the 2026 Scottish election approaches, and in the next Parliament.

Download the paper

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