WATCH: Ross-based MSP Kate Forbes vows 'change not continuity' with minimum wage push for carers
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Kate Forbes wants to raise the minimum wage for carers to £15-an-hour with the Highland social care sector deep in crisis and at risk of collapse, potentially profoundly affecting the NHS as well.
Speaking during a visit earlier today to Highland Home Carers in Inverness, Ms Forbes said she backs a review of ambitious Scottish Government proposals for a National Care service.
Areas that she would revisit if elected SNP leader and therefore First Minister include offering a decentralised care model to make it work locally.
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But ultimately, it would be key to pay carers more – asked how affordable that might be, she said: "It is unaffordable to stick to the status quo."
“Highland Homes Carers is an example of the model that we want to see across Scotland not just in the Highlands," she said. "Because any transformation of the NHS requires a strong care sector. Particularly in a country where you've got an ageing population and challenges with depopulation.
“So what Highland Homes Carers does and what I'm suggesting I would do as part of the National Care Service is, first of all, put fair work at the heart of the care sector.
“Ensure that our carers have fair terms and conditions that it is a rewarding career and yes, that does include minimum wage but it's not solely about minimum wage.
"“I would propose a plan to raise minimum pay to £15 per hour for carers within a timescale to be negotiated with the care sector and the unions, and to other changes necessary to make social care a more worthwhile and rewarding career.
“Secondly, ensure that there are learning pathways, apprenticeships. It's an extremely rewarding career but it's tough and in order to attract more carers we need to allow carers do what they love doing best, which is caring and see organisations like Highland Home Carers and local government reinvesting in their learning.
“I am hugely supportive of the National Care Service but I think it needs to allow space for decentralised models because you may know about Boleskine Care near Foyers which operates a very different but successful model of care which might work in central Glasgow.
“So you must have a decentralised approach which empowers local teams and all of this is trying to fix what Derek Feeley identified as some of the key problems facing the social care sector – postcode lottery, a lack of universal standards of care and a lack of focus on fair work.”
The finance secretary added that she wants to see a National Care Service that is “focused on recruiting, retaining and remunerating carers better.”
“However, any service must have the confidence of trade unions, local government and the Scottish Parliament. As such, the National Care Service should be focused on recruiting, retaining and remunerating carers better.
“We need to avoid resources getting sucked into additional bureaucracy. The main objective is to ensure there is a universal standard of care across Scotland and it is sufficiently integrated to rapidly reduce delayed discharge.
“I want to protect a decentralised approach to delivery that allows for local variations, particularly in remote and rural parts of Scotland – like in my own constituency.”
