Chamber and committees

Information published by Public Health Scotland ( Social care – Demand for Care at Home services ) provides the number of people waiting for a social care assessment, as well as the number of people who have been assessed and are waiting for a package of care. These figures, however, represent only a subset of unmet need.

Scottish Government analysts are considering options for increasing our understanding of the nature and level of unmet need in adult social care, and will continue to engage with external partners to develop appropriate approaches and deliver new insights over the coming months.

Information on the number of people receiving social care support has been collected by Public Health Scotland (PHS) and published as part of their Insights In Social Care publication since 2018. Prior to this, data was collected by Scottish Government through the Social Care Survey from 2013 – 2017.

Therefore, the change between 2016/17 and 2017/18 should be interpreted with caution due to the differences between data sources. However, PHS do produce an adjusted figure based on the same definitions used in the Social Care Survey that allows a longer term trend to be produced which has been used in the table below.

Data is available from 2014 onwards, as the same age breakdown is not available for 2013. Prior to 2013, there were separate surveys for Home Care and Direct Payments but no collection covering all social care services. Figures may not sum to all ages exactly due to rounding.

Table 1: The estimated number of people in Scotland receiving social care support by age, 2013-14 – 2021-22

On 2 January 2023, the number of people waiting for social care support assessment was 7,143. The latest data published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) shows that there were 6,706 waiting for a social care support assessment on 17 April 2023.

Please note:

• The demand for a package of care is unknown in advance of the assessment taking place, and some of the people being assessed will not need a package of care.
• Scotland estimates are derived by summing the number of people waiting from the partnerships. This excludes 3 Health and Social Care Partnerships who were unable to supply data.
• Figures are collected each Monday.

Source: Public Health Scotland, Social care – Demand for Care at Home services , published 25 April 2023.

a) Information on care home residents is reported on through the Care Home Census, published by Public Health Scotland (PHS). Information is published on a rolling 10-year basis; therefore, the figures below have been sourced from multiple Care Home Census publications. This includes historic extracts of publications from NHS Information Services Division, prior to the creation of Public Health Scotland. The Care Home Census was not run in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Table 1: The estimated number of care home residents aged 65+ years, 2007 – 2022

The Scottish Government wants to ensure the quality, fairness and consistency of social care support provision regardless of where people live in Scotland. Framework guidance on National Eligibility Criteria and Waiting times for the Personal and Nursing Care of Older People was issued jointly by the Scottish Government and COSLA for use by local authorities on 28 September 2009.

Four eligibility categories - Critical, Substantial, Moderate and Low Risk are defined in the framework. In addition, the category of "No Risk" is used for people who are assessed as not coming under any of the four eligibility categories, and "Not available" is used when the eligibility category is not known. The eligibility criteria consider both the severity of the risks and the urgency for intervention to respond to the risks.

The national framework recognised that local authorities should set eligibility criteria that indicate what level of need they and their partners recognise as requiring services. In setting criteria, local authorities consider a range of factors including the overall level of resources available to meet need, the cost of service provision and ensuring equity in their service decisions. These criteria are not required by statute, but most local authorities have relied on them for the allocation of limited resources.

Eligibility criteria can be a barrier to accessing social care support. We want the focus to be on people getting the support they need when they need it, not on eligibility. The Scottish Government and COSLA are committed to "the overhaul of the current mechanism of eligibility criteria to ensure an approach to social care support that is based upon human rights and needs" (Joint Statement of Intent and Next Steps for Adult Social Care, December 2022), and are working together with partners and stakeholders on the development of alternative approaches.

The Scottish Social Services Council, as the regulator of social care services, publishes an annual report on the social services workforce which can be found on their website here: Scottish Social Service Sector: Report on 2021 Workforce Data (sssc.uk.com) .

Their latest report shows that, at the end of 2021, there were more than 208,000 people working in the social services workforce.

Information on Social Care Eligibility and Waiting times is collected and published by the Scottish Government. This is publicly available via the following link: Social Care Eligibility Criteria And Waiting Times, Scotland, 2020-21 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Many Local Authorities have reported difficulty in providing the information asked for in this data collection, which has had a significant impact on the robustness of the information available for analysis. We have been working with Public Health Scotland (PHS) to consider the future of this data and are developing plans to capture waiting times data within existing Social Care collections returned to PHS, aiming to make it more straightforward for partnerships to provide data, and in turn resulting in more complete and consistent data in the future.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the average pay rates for care assistants across the private, public and third sector.

From April 2023, adult social care workers delivering direct care in commissioned services will see their pay increase to a minimum of £10.90 per hour; in line with the Real Living Wage rate for the 2023-24 Financial Year.

These are the minimum rates of pay for these workers and many providers choose to pay more than these minimums.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6O-02113 on 19 April 2023 The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the Parliaments website, the Official report can be viewed at: Meeting of the Parliament: 19/04/2023 | Scottish Parliament Website

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the average pay rates for social care staff across the private, public and third sector.

From April 2023, adult social care workers delivering direct care in commissioned services will see their pay increase to a minimum of £10.90 per hour; in line with the Real Living Wage rate for the 2023-24 Financial Year.

These are the minimum rates of pay for these workers and many providers choose to pay more than these minimums.