Plan to scrap charges for social care provided to Scots in their home

Nicola Sturgeon will today unveil plans to scrap all charges for social care provided to Scots at home.

This means services such as meals on wheels, community alarms, care at home and mental health support services will no longer be charged.

The planned change will be at the heart of the SNP’S manifesto for the 2021 Holyrood elections.

Scots currently face a postcode lottery around the country in the services which face costs. These also include domestic support, after-care services for people with mental health problems and day care meals. It comes after the Scottish Government agreed to extend free personal care to all Scots who need it, regardless of age.

“The principle behind free personal care and free health care is the same – if you need help you should get it,” Ms Sturgeon will tell SNP delegates today.

“However, despite that principle many people – of all ages – still have to pay for non-residential social care services.

“I know from my own constituency experience that charges can be a barrier to people accessing the support they need.

“And if people can’t get that support in their own homes, they are more likely to end up in hospital.

“So today I am making this promise – if I am re-elected as First Minister at the next Holyrood elections, then over the next parliament the SNP will scrap all non-residential social care charges.”

Ms Sturgeon’s speech this afternoon will bring the curtain down on the SNP’S conference in Aberdeen.

The decision to extend free personal care came after a campaign by Amanda Kopel, the widow of former Dundee United footballer Frank Kopel. She spearheaded the Frank’s Law campaign in 2013 after watching her husband fight dementia for six years. He was diagnosed with the condition a week before his 60th birthday and lost his battle 19 days before he turned 65.

Ministers are committed to extending social care services in Scotland and place this on a “level footing” with healthcare in order to allow more people to live independently and drive down the number of elderly Scotsbeingneedlessly keptin hospital.

Work has been under way with people who use social care support, unpaid carers, the social services sector, local and national organisations and Health and Social Care partnerships to develop a national programme to support local reform of adult social care.