Scottish Labour to blame SNP for fuelling 'crisis' in social care

Scottish Labour is to blame the SNP Government for fuelling a “crisis” in social care.

The party is set to use a parliamentary debate on Wednesday to accuse the Scottish Government of “pushing social care to the brink of collapse” and “piling pressure on other public services”.

Ahead of the debate, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie claimed that Scotland’s health and social care partnerships currently have an estimated budget blackhole of nearly half a billion pounds.

She said the pressures are forcing many to make cuts to key services for some of Scotland’s “most vulnerable people”.

For example, she said Charles McGarvey, a constituent who became quadriplegic following an accident, was informed that the specialist teams that support him no longer exist.

Baillie said he was told his care package would be cut the very next day.

Scottish Labour said the cuts also include £200,000 worth of cuts to residents’ care packages and £200,000 worth of cuts to day care in North Ayrshire; the loss of eight projects, reduced eligibility for day care centres and a halving of the number of activity hubs for older people in Aberdeenshire; cuts to funding for community mental health services in Edinburgh; and the closure of two care homes in East Lothian.

In the debate, Baillie will urge Scottish ministers to work towards closing the funding gap facing health and social care partnerships and to put more value on Scotland’s care workforce.

In response, the SNP are set to force Scottish Labour MSPs to vote on the UK Government’s “hostile and damaging migration policies” that have had a “devastating impact” on the care sector.

Health secretary Neil Gray’s amendment blames Westminster’s policies for the 77% drop in the number of health and social care visas granted in Scotland.

It also notes that the Scottish social care sector has called for the reversal of these “harmful” migration policies.

First Minister John Swinney said on X: “Scotland needs more carers, but Westminster is driving them away.

“Labour’s hostile immigration plans and their tax on jobs are hammering Scotland’s social care sector. With the fresh start of independence, we can build a migration system suited to our needs and interests.”