Interim National Care Service Advisory Board: Advice to Scottish Ministers - Fair Work

Background

5. The Fair Work Convention published its report Fair Work in Scotland’s Social Care Sector 2019 in February 2019, calling for urgent interventions by policy makers, commissioners and leaders in the social care sector to improve the quality of work and employment for the social care workforce in Scotland. This report, along with the Independent Review of Adult Social Care in 2021, have driven a shared commitment by Scottish and local government to prioritise the delivery of fair work for the social care sector.

6. The Scottish Government and COSLA established an independently chaired Fair Work in Social Care implementation Group to take forward the recommendations of the Fair Work Convention’s review, and this group has been in operation since 2021.

7. The Group is independently chaired by Andy Kerr and includes members from Scottish Government, local government, service providers, trades unions and regulators. The Group has also drawn in additional expertise, e.g. from academia, as and when required.

8. Priority areas of work for the Group were drawn from the Fair Work Convention Review and Independent Review of Adult Social Care and have included:

• pay
• terms and conditions
• effective voice
• sectoral bargaining

9. The Group has made the following progress:

• delivering a considerable reduction in the time taken to process annual pay uplifts meaning this gets into the pockets of workers more rapidly
• identifying a framework of priority issues to be addressed as part of improvements to wider terms and conditions, e.g. payment of PVG checks, improved maternity and paternity pay arrangements and similar for sickness pay
• deployment and ongoing evaluation of an Effective Voice Framework to help ensure that workers voices are heard, including by sector leaders
• progress on sectoral bargaining, viewed by many as being pivotal to the delivery of all aspects of fair work for the sector at a national level.

10. The Fair Work in Social Care Implementation Group has been the driving force behind the development of the proposed voluntary sectoral bargaining approach currently being considered by Ministers. There have, however, been considerable concerns about the pace of delivery of this critical work. The interim Board understand that the Group hopes to reach a settled position shortly, with a view to moving into an implementation phase.

11. In addition to the work being progressed by the Fair Work in Social Care Implementation Group, there have recently been two significant pieces of Primary legislation introduced in 2025, which give further support and leverage to the development, implementation and monitoring of the effectiveness of fair work in the social care sector in Scotland. These are the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, which includes provision for the development of a fair Work Strategy (and associated progress reports); and the UK Employment Rights Act 2025, which includes provision for the potential establishment of statutory Social Care Negotiating Body, with associated statutory Fair Pay Agreements.

12. At this time, the interim Board understands that the Fair Work in Social Care Implementation Group has not been approached as regards any formal role in the development of the Fair Work Strategy, but that consideration is being given to expanding the remit of the Group to address this issue. The Group’s membership (providers, trade unions, local government, regulators and Scottish Government) and well-established working relationships would be beneficial to the Strategy work. The interim Board recognises that this is still at a fairly early stage.

13. The interim Board recognises that lived experience involvement is essential to ensure that the Fair Work Strategy is appropriately focused and addresses the issues which matter to those receiving services. If the Fair Work in Social Care Implementation Group was to be used as the only vehicle through which to develop the Fair Work Strategy, the interim Board thinks the absence of lived experience on this Group would present a critical gap. The interim Board considers that involving people with lived experience in the Strategy’s development would bring strong benefits. This could be done through one of two ways:

• supplementing the Implementation Group’s membership for its work on the Strategy only, with lived experience Advisory Board members or nominees.
• allowing the interim Board to take forward additional work with lived experience input, to feed into the Strategy’s development alongside the Fair Work in Social Care Implementation Group.

Either of these approaches would be in line with the NCS Advisory Board’s commitment to have lived experience at the centre, collaboratively supported by professional experience. The interim Board believes this would support the development of the Fair Work Strategy ensuring that lived experience is embedded in decision making in the health and social care sector.