Scotland's First Minister has defended the increase in the basic wage for social care workers to £10.90 an hour and said a proposed increase to £15 an hour would cost an additional £1.75bn and not be the act of a responsible government.

In an exchange with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar during First Minister’s Questions, Nicola Sturgeon said the increase from £9.50 an hour in April 2021 to £10 90 an hour from April of this year will represent an uplift of more than £780 for someone working full time.

Mr Sarwar said the government's failure to eliminate delayed discharge – which he linked directly to difficulties recruiting and retaining social care staff – is already costing at least £150m a year. He also called on ministers to pause the national care service which he said will cost an estimated £1.3bn – money he said should be spent on frontline services to address the current crisis.

The Scottish Labour leader said social care staff and trade union representatives told him in meetings this week that people continue to quit and retire because of the pressures of the job. He said pay for social care staff does not reflect the importance of their role to society:

“Social care staff will be paid £10.90 an hour, which represents a 3.8% pay increase - that is 40p - at a time when inflation is running at 9% and NHS staff are being offered, on average, an increase of 7.5%.

“That is in the context of a First Minister who said that she would reward social care staff who put their lives on the line to get us through the pandemic.”

He added:

“Why can the First Minister not see that there is no solution to the NHS crisis without a solution to the social care crisis? 71% of care-at-home services are reporting vacancies, as are 75% of care homes.

“Yesterday, we heard that staff are leaving to work in Sainsbury’s, Costa and Lidl, because they can get better pay and better conditions there. Will the First Minister finally commit to an immediate pay increase to £12 an hour, rising to £15 an hour, for social care workers across Scotland?”

The First Minister said she agreed that social care workers’ roles have traditionally been undervalued in Scotland and elsewhere.

She said some of the pressures on acute and emergency care in Scotland's hospitals can be alleviated by reform and by increasing further the capacity in social care, but that it was important that the government is able to fund the decisions it takes:

“On the £10.90 an hour wage that Anas Sarwar derides, it is important to point out, just as an aside, that that is the rate paid by the Labour Government in Wales to the social care workforce.”

The First Minister said, over the past two years, there has been a 14.7% increase in pay for social care workers:

“I want us to go further, and we intend to go further, but we have to be able to fund that.

"Labour is asking us to increase pay to £15 an hour for all social care workers. I understand why people want that to happen, but it would cost up to an additional £1.75bn. Labour has not set out how it would fund that or what it proposes to cut as a consequence.”

Mr Sarwar responded:

“I will tell the First Minister what is derisory. Derisory is giving a 3.8% pay increase to front-line workers when inflation is running at 9%. That is what is derisory and is causing the social care crisis.”

But Ms Sturgeon described Labour’s call for a £15 an hour living wage irresponsible, as she insisted scrutiny of the national care service bill will continue:

“Calling for a reform that is due to be implemented in future years [to be paused] in order to fund a pay increase in this financial year is an example of the completely irresponsible and incoherent approach that Labour takes to budgeting.

"That is not how budgeting works. By all means, let us continue to scrutinise the national care service legislation, but do not mislead people into thinking that, if we just stopped the bill, we would suddenly free up money now for pay increases. It simply does not work that way.”

 

Read more: New discharge to care homes programme; Editorial: A resolution for social care; Call to pause NCS development until after winter

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