Morning, Thursday, 18th September 2025
Online
This conference will focus on the future of social care policy in Scotland, following the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill recently completing Stage 3 in the Scottish Parliament.
It is bringing stakeholders and policymakers together to consider practical strategies for addressing ongoing challenges in the social care system and priorities for implementing the new legislation and future reform. This follows the Scottish Government’s decision not to proceed with structural reforms outlined in Part One of the original National Care Service Bill, shifting the focus instead to the establishment of a non-statutory National Care Service Advisory Board.
Delegates will discuss next steps for implementing provisions in the Bill, delivering social care provision improvements, future funding priorities, and lessons learnt from the recent Audit Scotland report, which raised concerns about declining service performance and outcomes, as well as record-high staffing vacancies.
Sessions will also look at provisions for information sharing between care providers, implementation of Anne’s Law to protect care home visitation rights, and the introduction of statutory breaks for unpaid carers. Attendees will discuss how to achieve meaningful reform, whilst continuing to support the local authority workforce, as outlined in the Bill.
With the agenda currently in the drafting stage, overall areas for discussion include:
- Care Reform (Scotland) Bill: implementation of Anne’s Law - statutory breaks for unpaid carers - establishing the National Care Service Advisory Board
- governance and accountability:
- how the National Care Service Advisory Board might affect care service provision, patient outcomes, and stakeholders
- developing a cross-sector approach between government, local authorities, and care providers
- ensuring greater transparency in delivery of community health and social care
- workforce development:
- addressing ongoing issues in retention and recruitment
- challenges and solutions in recruiting from overseas
- pay disparity between workers across different local authorities
- supporting the work of unpaid carers
- strategies to improve training and progression
- ensuring that employers and public can access information about persons registered on Scottish Social Services Council register
- infrastructure and capacity:
- addressing sustainability of existing care homes
- accommodating for a forecasted increase in people receiving health and social care
- innovation in care delivery:
- areas of innovation to improve and retain a good standard of care
- opportunities for data and technology in care service provision
- collaborative structures:
- pathways to ensuring service integration and a standardised level of care
- strengthening collaboration between the independent sector, local authorities and the third sector
- funding priorities:
- assessing value for money
- addressing the funding gap
- funding priorities to improve community care
