Sometimes good things come to an end. When a relationship is imbalanced and when one side is being taken for granted, the most sensible decision, even if it is the hardest one to make, is to walk away.

Truth be told, this wasn’t necessarily a difficult decision to make. Just saddening. Last week we formally withdrew our support for the National Care Service Bill and left the Scottish Government in no doubt that, should it continue on the path of past mistakes in building its new care service, it certainly will not have been done in our name nor with our support.

This wasn’t a decision taken lightly though. For three years we have engaged in good faith with the process, offering our expertise and insight to shape a national care service that works for staff and the people who rely on care. But meeting after meeting, discussions, consultations, outreach events, stakeholder engagement - you name it - the Government was not willing to listen to the very voices that are crucial to making this service a success: the workers who hold up our collapsing social care system.

The principle of a National Care Service is not something we oppose; in fact, we fully support it. It’s something we’ve long called for: a not for profit service that places people over profit and treats both staff and service users with the dignity they deserve. However, what has been put forward in this bill falls dramatically short of that vision. This bill won’t help to resolve the core issues of poverty wages, insecure contracts, chronic understaffing and lack of career pathways that continue to plague the sector. Worse still, it perpetuates the profiteering that has turned social care into a cash cow for hedge funds whilst service users pay sickeningly high fees and workers receive shockingly low wages.

Read more by Roz Foyer

From within the glossy pages of its 2021 manifesto, the SNP heralded its idea for a national service of care. Building on all our collective experiences of the pandemic, when Covid ripped through care homes, care workers were thrown to the wolves and care home operators raked in profits, the Scottish Government claimed that the NCS Bill would herald a transformation in social care, placing fairness, equality, and high-quality care at its heart. It promised a service that would be built in collaboration with those who know the sector best: workers, unions, and service users. But after years of engagement, we’re left with the bitter aftertaste that this was nothing more than political lip-service to staff and families alike.

Our attempts to engage with the Government on key issues, such as the need to raise wages and improve working conditions, have been met with evasion and obfuscation. When we raised concerns about the role of private providers, we were told not to worry: that private companies would still have a role, but somehow the new system would still be equitable and just. This is a fundamental contradiction. You cannot claim to create a fair, universal care system while allowing private firms to continue extracting profit from a service that should be rooted in public good. The Government’s refusal to take these concerns seriously has left us no choice but to step away from this deeply flawed and mortally wounded bill.

The reality is that social care in Scotland is in crisis, and it has been for a long time. The Covid-19 pandemic laid bare the fragility of the system, but the truth is that these issues have been festering for years. Workers in social care, predominantly women, are overwhelmingly on low pay, with many earning little more than the minimum wage. A large proportion are on insecure contracts, leaving them with no stability or guarantee of hours. Turnover rates are sky-high because people simply cannot afford to stay in a sector that refuses to offer them the pay, security, or respect they deserve.

More to the point, you fundamentally do not need a completely new and still, as of yet, undefined system of national care which does nothing more than just repeat the same mistakes. Low pay. Insecure conditions. Low staff retention. The Scottish Government can invest into social care right now and fix these problems but instead it can’t see the wood for the trees. In this case, some very expensive trees, as the Scottish Government has already spent over £28 million in developing the National Care Service Bill.

It’s not just the staff who are suffering; service users, too, are being failed by this broken system. With chronically understaffed services, care is often rushed or inadequate. Carers are forced to stretch themselves too thin, unable to give the time and attention they want to offer because they are overloaded with impossible workloads.

At the heart of the problem is the fact that social care is still treated as a profit-making venture for private companies. The system in Scotland is fragmented, making commissioning and delivery complex. The new bill puts ministers in charge but still leaves the delivery to underfunded local councils who need to buy in the service from the profiteers. There is an array of evidence to show that care homes run by big private providers have more complaints, worse staffing resources, lower pay, and higher fees than not-for-profit homes. This must end.

Care workers do sterling work but are often poorly paidCare workers do sterling work but are often poorly paid (Image: PA)

We need a truly public National Care Service - one that is not for profit and fully accountable to the people of Scotland.

The current bill does none of these things. Instead, it tinkers around the edges of a system that is fundamentally broken. We need more than piecemeal reforms; we need a radical overhaul.

The Scottish Government still has an opportunity to get this right, but only if they start listening - really listening - to the voices of workers and their unions. We have the solutions: raise wages, offer secure contracts, invest in training and development, and remove private profit from the equation. We need a National Care Service that is worthy of the name: one that is run for the benefit of the people, not for the pockets of private providers.

Roz Foyer is General Secretary of the STUC