Official Report 780KB pdf
Community Care (Personal Care and Nursing Care) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 [Draft]
Our third agenda item is consideration of an affirmative instrument. The purpose of the instrument is to increase the value of payments for free personal care and nursing care by 2.37 per cent. The Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee considered the instrument at its meeting on 4 February 2025 and made no recommendations in relation to it.
We will have an evidence session with the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport and supporting officials on the instrument. Once our questions have been answered, we will proceed to a formal debate on the motion.
I welcome the minister, Maree Todd. I also welcome her Scottish Government officials, Geraldine Campbell, who is the unit head for adult social care charging, care at home and dementia, and Alice Hall, who is the deputy director for adult social care, local improvement and transformation. I invite the minister to make a brief opening statement.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the committee regarding a proposed amendment to the Community Care (Personal Care and Nursing Care) (Scotland) Regulations 2002. The draft regulations that are before the committee make routine annual increases to the rates for free personal and nursing care. Those payments help to cover the cost of those services for self-funding adults in residential care.
This year, we propose to apply an uplift that is based on the gross domestic product deflator, which has been used historically as the inflationary measure to increase the rates. It will mean that the weekly payment rates for personal care for self-funders will rise from £248.70 to £254.60, and the nursing care component will rise from £111.90 to £114.55. The most recent official statistics show that more than 11,000 self-funding residents aged 18 and above received free personal and nursing care in 2023-24. They should all benefit from these changes. I am happy to take questions from the committee.
I declare my interest as a practising NHS GP.
A GDP deflator, which has been used previously, was used as the measure, and I note that, in the past, the Scottish Government has put in more money than the GDP deflator said was owed. Is the uplift of 2.37 per cent sufficient for personal care to continue as it is? Why are we using the GDP deflator as opposed to other economic measures?
The member is absolutely correct to say that the GDP deflator was used in previous years—from 2011 to 2015—and we then had a number of years when the rates remained static, before we went back to the GDP deflator. Over the past few years, including during the pandemic, there have been above GDP deflator increases. There was an increase of 7.5 per cent in 2021-22, of 10 per cent in 2022-23 and of 9.5 per cent in 2023-24. In 2024-25, we went back to the GDP deflator increase, which, in that year, was 6.68 per cent. Historically, we have used that measure as the benchmark for the uplift, and we are very pleased that we have been able to allocate additional resources to fund free personal and nursing care.
The member will understand that we are operating in an extremely challenging financial context. As such, although there is no doubt that I would have preferred to increase it beyond that, it is simply not possible this year.
11:15
I will go back to my second question. Why is the Government using the GDP deflator as opposed to any other economic measure?
We have always either used the GDP deflator itself or used it to calculate an above-inflation rise. Over the number of years that we have done this, we have used it either in it itself or to calculate an increased rate. The reason that we are not having an above-inflation rise this year is the challenging financial context in which we are operating. In that context, I am pleased that we are able to raise it in line with the GDP deflator and make an increase that will benefit all the people who are accessing personal care and social care and paying for it themselves.
As no other member has indicated that they wish to ask a question, we will move to agenda item 4, which is the formal debate on the instrument on which we have taken evidence.
I remind the committee that officials may not speak in the debate. I invite the minister to speak to and move motion S6M-16242.
Motion moved,
That the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee recommends that the Community Care (Personal Care and Nursing Care) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 [draft] be approved.—[Maree Todd]
As no member has indicated—oh, Sandesh Gulhane wishes to speak.
I would like further clarification as to why we are using the GDP deflator. I know that it has been used historically, but why has that particular measure been used as opposed to any other measure? I put that question to the minister twice, but the actual reason for using the GDP deflator as opposed to any other economic outcome measure was not clear. Although I agree that it has been used historically, the question why still stands.
Although we will obviously support an increase in care payments, there is a valid concern about the long-term sustainability of these types of increases, especially if the underlying financial pressures on the care system are not addressed. I therefore have the same concerns as my colleague Sandesh Gulhane around why we use this particular method to ensure these increases. There is conditional support, but I would definitely like to understand how we ensure long-term sustainability as we go forward.
I invite the minister to sum up.
The GDP deflator, which is a measure of general inflation in the domestic economy, has historically been used to increase the free personal and nursing care payments annually.
As I stated in response to Dr Gulhane’s earlier question, inflationary increases were made from 2011 to 2015. The rate remained static in 2016-17 due to forecasts of inflation rates being too high, and ministers agreed to keep that rate for 2017-18. There was then a return to inflationary rises.
I agree that evidence in recent years has shown that the cost of providing FPNC has increased significantly and the rate has not kept pace with that. In order to address that, for three years, above-inflation—that is, above the GDP deflator—increases were made to rates on the basis of the need to balance affordability and take into account the rising cost of care home placements. There was a return to inflationary rises last year, and I propose that this year, as last year, we use the GDP deflator.
I hope that that answers members’ questions. We are proposing an inflationary rise for next year largely due to the need to balance budget constraints with the wish to raise it at all.
The question is, that motion S6M-16242 be approved. Are we agreed?
Motion agreed to,
That the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee recommends that the Community Care (Personal Care and Nursing Care) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 [draft] be approved.
That concludes consideration of the instrument.
At our meeting next week, we will hold an evidence session with sportscotland.
11:20 Meeting continued in private until 11:23.