Scottish Government and COSLA – joint statement of intent

The Scottish Government and COSLA have issued a joint statement of intent outlining how they will work together to improve adult social care, following the publication of the recent Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland (IRASC).

The statement of intent includes how both parties will deliver the key foundation pillars set out in the IRASC, with a welcomed focus on human rights, lived experience and eligibility criteria.

The Scottish Government has already showed commitment to the IRASC recommendations by pledging £64.5m to ensure that adult social care workers in Scotland will be paid at least the Real Living Wage of £9.50 per hour. Work will begin at pace to implement this commitment from May, and this will be backdated to April 2021.

Fair Work is a priority for the Scottish Government and COSLA who will continue to work with the Fair Work Group to complete, by May 2021, the:

• development of a minimum standards framework for terms and conditions. This will lead to the establishment of core requirements for ethical commissioning which will ensure that going forward, fair work requirements and principles are met and delivered consistently.
• development of a minimum standards framework for effective voice across the whole of the social care workforce. This will enable the workforce to respond to local conditions and address matters of importance, and support an effective collective bargaining role in the sector.

Further to this, agreement has been reached by the Scottish Government and COSLA to have outline plans in place, by May, to deliver:

• An end to charging for non-residential services as soon as possible;
• Shared ethical commissioning principles;
• The overhaul of the current mechanism of eligibility criteria to ensure an approach to social care support that is based on human rights and needs;
• A mechanism which ensures the voices of those with lived experience are at the heart of policy development, service design and service delivery;
• Ensuring that unpaid carers are fully supported to have a life alongside caring, in order to protect their health and wellbeing and better sustain caring roles.

You can learn more about the statement of intent here.

For more about the Independent Review of Adult Social Care in Scotland, click here.

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