Hansard

I am not directly aware of the outcome of today’s judgment. However, as well as looking at the cash value of people’s salaries, it is important to look at their terms and conditions. I think that, on balance, we have some of the best terms and conditions for the social care workforce, but that does not mean that it is not appropriate for us to continue to look at what more can be done. I am sure that we will look carefully at today’s judgment and whether it has implications for elsewhere in the service.

Through our social services workforce regulator, the Scottish Social Services Council, we have invested heavily over this session of Parliament to support the regulation and development of social services staff. The SSSC also delivers a range of support for the recruitment and retention of the workforce, which includes resources on career pathways and promotional materials for schools, colleges, employment services and employers. It also promotes routes into careers such as foundation and modern apprenticeships and runs a network of ambassadors for careers in care.

Over the past four years, together with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, we have ensured that adult social care workers are paid at least the real living wage and, earlier this year, we gave an additional £8.8 million to the integration authorities to deliver the real living wage commitment.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have ensured that social care workers are not financially disadvantaged due to their employer’s occupational sick pay policy. In June, we introduced the social care staff support fund, leading to staff receiving their expected income if they become ill or have to self-isolate due to Covid-19.

Again in response to the pandemic, the Scottish Government has worked with partners to deliver a national approach to recruitment, regulation and deployment, and to accelerate the expansion of workforce capacity. For example, an accelerated recruitment portal that was established by NHS Education for Scotland and the Scottish Social Services Council encouraged health and social care workers who had left their profession in the past five years to return to the workforce during the pandemic.

In recognition of the critical role of the social care sector, we have provided local authorities with an additional £100 million of funding for Covid-19-related costs. However, the Scottish Government is not complacent. We have a long-standing commitment to the principles of fair work. We are working with stakeholders to embed further fair work principles and achieve better terms and conditions and more rewarding roles for the social care workforce.

As members will be aware, we have an integrated health and social care system. Therefore, we take a broad view on workforce planning and future recruitment needs. Last December, we published the United Kingdom’s first integrated health and social care workforce plan, which sets out how health and social care services will meet growing demands to ensure that we have the right members of staff with the right skills across health and social care services.

Despite the wide range of activities that are under way to support recruitment in the sector, we still face significant workforce pressures. The pressures are likely to increase if the UK Government’s immigration proposals are not amended to reflect Scotland’s unique needs.

Data collected and analysed by the Care Inspectorate and the SSSC show that vacancy rates for registered care services in Scotland are significant. The latest data shows that 38 per cent of the services reported having vacancies. Vacancy rates are higher than that in a number of specific services, including in care homes for older people. Some 47 per cent of all care services with vacancies reported having problems filling them. Therefore, we must look at all options for filling the vacancies.

A study commissioned by the Scottish Government in 2018 found that 5.6 per cent of people employed in adult social care and childcare in Scotland, or almost 100,000 individuals, are non-UK European Union nationals. The study demonstrates that non-UK EU workers are valued by their employers and want to stay in Scotland.

Every one of those individuals is welcome in this country. We will do everything that we can to ensure that they can continue to build their lives here. That is why the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and COSLA have written to the social care workforce, most recently in January, to reassure them, to thank them for their commitment to the sector and to encourage EU citizens to apply for the EU settlement scheme.

Our stay in Scotland campaign will continue to reach out to EU citizens in the sector, offering advice and support. However, the current UK proposals for immigration policy following the end of the transition period simply do not meet the needs of our social care workforce. Indeed, they do not need meet the needs of our public services more broadly, our economy or our communities.

The UK Government proposes a migration system that measures an individual’s value solely against their qualifications and their salary. It dismisses those who do not meet the salary and qualification thresholds as “low skilled”. That is a deeply offensive term, particularly to those working in professions such as social care.

The proposals show no understanding or appreciation of the crucial role of social care in our communities. The UK Government’s own migration advisers, the Migration Advisory Committee, highlighted concerns about the impact of the proposals on social care.

In its January 2020 report, the UK Government noted that its proposed points-based system would

“increase pressure on social care, raise the dependency ratio and have larger impacts on some sectors and areas than others.”

Despite that clear acceptance that the proposals will

“increase pressure on social care”,

the UK Government is proceeding with its plans.

In Scotland, social care is a qualified, regulated and skills-based profession. Crucially, though, it is also based on values. All roles in the sector require skilled and confident staff, and, increasingly, care workers are undertaking certain tasks that were previously carried out by health professionals. They often use technology to provide care, and many support individuals with complex conditions. By the end of this year, the Scottish Social Services Council will require the majority of care workers in Scotland to be qualified to a nationally agreed level. Such a requirement is not currently in place across the whole of the UK.

In July, the UK Government announced the creation of a health and care visa that was supposed to address the workforce needs of the health and social care sector. However, yet again, the needs of social care were ignored. The visa applies to some front-line health roles and qualified social workers, but it does not apply to social care staff, or to any of the support staff who play such a crucial role in keeping our national health service working.

In contrast to the freedom of movement system, the new points-based system brings significant costs and bureaucracy for the individual and their family, and for their employer. In its current form, the visa is of no help in addressing the specific social care recruitment needs that exist in Scotland. Over the next four years, demand for social care staff in Scotland is expected to increase—estimates suggest that we will need as many as 10,500 additional staff. It is therefore crucial for the sector to be able to recruit as widely as possible. We must retain the flexibility that international recruitment can provide so that we can meet service demand.

One of the key drivers of that increasing demand will be our demographic needs. Scotland faces distinct demographic challenges, and all our future population growth is due to come from migration.

The expert advisory group on migration and population has analysed the impact of the UK Government’s immigration proposals on Scotland. Its analysis is clear: the proportion of the population who are of pensionable age is projected to increase, while, over the same period, the proportion of the population in Scotland that is of working age is projected to decline by between 3 and 5 per cent as a result of reduced EU migration.

Scotland has distinct needs, including demographic needs, because of our rural communities. The UK Government’s immigration proposals will not meet those needs or the needs of our care sector; indeed, they will make the existing challenges more difficult, as the UK Government’s migration advisers recognise. Nor will the proposals meet the needs of our wider public sector, our economy or our communities. Scotland needs a tailored migration policy that allows us to meet our distinct needs. The UK Government may be content to introduce immigration policies that will increase pressure on the social care sector, but the Scottish Government is not.