Question reference: S6W-26506
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 27 March 2024
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 April 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people under the age of 65 have received free personal care in each year since the expansion of the policy in April 2019, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The latest statistical release for Free Personal and Nursing Care is for the period 2022-23 and was published on 5 September 2023. Two published excel files accompany the publication, one of which provides data on people aged between 18-64, from the years 2018-19 to 2022-23. This can be found at: Supporting documents - Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
The relevant information can be found in Tables 3a and 6a.
Although Care at Home may include personal care, it may also take the form of other support services which sit outwith Free Personal Care legislation.
Free personal care is available to all adults, regardless of their age, and is provided based on an assessment of need by the local authority. Local authorities set their eligibility threshold based on local guidance, and it may not be consistent across local authorities.