£1bn in extra funding needed by social care sector, MSPs warned

SCOTLAND’S care sector needs an extra £1billion of funding, MSPs have heard.

Donald Macaskill, chief executive of sector body Scottish Care, told a Holyrood committee the figure was a ‘conservative’ estimate of the additional amount required in the next three years – with more than £300million expected to be needed next year.

There was widespread support for an independent commission on care home fees at the discussion on care home sustainability held by the health and sport committee.

It initially focused on the closure of 12 Bield homes in Scotland, affecting 167 residents.

Bield Housing and Care chief executive Brian Logan said the move was announced in October but in some cases residents and families had been given up to nine months’ notice of closures, more than the 90 days contractually required.

He said it had been a ‘tough’ decision but added it was a last resort for the company.

Staffing levels were sufficient to deliver services and care was ‘first class’, he added. But he said the charitable company – set up to help those most in need – did not want to be in a business where it faced switching to filling homes with more lucrative self-funding residents rather than those paid for by a local authority.

Mr Logan told the committee the care home side of the business had been losing money for five years and around £375,000 last year.

Mr Macaskill said the Bield closures raised profound questions over the ‘sustainability’ of the care home sector in Scotland and warned that significant players in the industry are concerned about their ability to continue.

He said: ‘Bield is a symptom of disease and that disease is the current underfunding of the social sector in Scotland.’

Questioned on how much extra money is needed, Mr Macaskill said: ‘Within the Scottish context I would conservatively estimate in terms of the gaps of social care provision – the whole of social care from children to older people’s services – we need a further £1billion over the next three years.’