SASW gives evidence on National Care Service Bill

SASW appeared before two parliamentary committees this week to give oral evidence on the Scottish Government's National Care Service proposals.

The Bill was published in June and MSPs from all parties are currently reviewing it at stage one. As part of this process, parliamentary committees are gathering evidence from a range of stakeholders. SASW provided written evidence to the committees in September.

The evidence will inform a report recommending whether MSPs should support the general principles of the legislation. This vote is expected to take place in March 2023.  If passed, the Bill will progress to stage two, where MSPs will then be allowed to propose amendments.

National Director, Alison Bavidge gave evidence to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee on Tuesday alongside SSSC, SPDS and the Royal College of Nursing. Alison warned MSPs about the serious pressures on social work and frustration in the profession that social workers are being denied the time to do the relationship-based, thereaputic work in their communities they want to do. The National Care Service must therefore deliver ambitious reform of the role of social work toward a community-based profession where social workers have autonomy, time and resources to build relationships and trust with those who need support. Watch the full session.

Meanwhile, SASW Chair, Jude Currie appeared before the Education, Children and Young People's Committee alongside Barnardo's Scotland on Wednesday. Jude highlighted to MSPs the risks of fragmenting social work and segmenting services if children's services are not included in the National Care Service. Social workers don't need more structures to navigate, and there is understanable concern that specialisms might be split up in the government's proposals. Watch the full session.

You can follow all SASW's work on the National Care Service Bill in our NCS hub here.