Scottish government pledges £4m boost to support wellbeing of care workers through winter

The Scottish government has announced a £4m package of support for health and social care and is inviting care providers to identify the wellbeing services that will benefit their staff to support them through the “toughest winter”.

The £4m investment is in addition to last week’s announcement where the Scottish government pledged a £300 million Winter Support package of measures to help boost NHS and social care over the winter.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “As part of the £300 million package of support for health and social care this winter, we’re bolstering staff wellbeing with an extra £4 million to look after our most valuable asset, the people who provide the care we need through this pandemic.

“We have engaged with health and social care staff around the country, to find out what they need most and how we can help them to get through the toughest winter they’ve ever faced.

“Funding will be immediately available for hot drinks, food and other measures to aid rest and recuperation based on what staff told us they needed. We are also continuing to engage with the workforce to understand what else would help them, with the possibility of developing more psychological support measures.”

'Ongoing wellbeing support is essential if we are to have sustainable workforce for the future'

This £4 million boost comes on top of £8m which will be provided through the NHS Recovery Plan. This will see the ongoing development of a National Wellbeing Programme including a dedicated hub and helpline, confidential mental health treatment through the Workforce Specialist Service along with time and training for staff to support each other.

Acting director of development and innovation, Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) Laura Lamb said: “The SSSC welcomes the announcement of additional funding to support the wellbeing of frontline workers across social care, social work and health care.

“The workforce continues to deliver high quality person-centred care despite facing significant challenges. They have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic. It is vital the workforce feel valued, cared for and are recognised for the life changing work they do.

“Never before has support for the workforce been so important. Ongoing wellbeing support is essential if we are to have sustainable workforce for the future.”

'£48m to boost the hourly rate of pay for care workers this winter'

The government's investment of over £300 million also includes £48m to boost the hourly rate of pay for care workers which will see their pay increase from £9.50 per hour to £10.02 per hour this financial year. This is to match the new NHS band 2 staff.

In March, former Scottish health secretary Jeane Freeman announced a £64.5m investment that would lift social care workers’ pay to at least £9.50, the equivalent of the Real Living Wage.

Mr Yousaf said: “This significant new investment will help get people the care they need as quickly as possible this winter. Bolstering the caring workforce by increasing their numbers, providing them with additional support, and increasing the wages of social care staff.

“We’ve previously provided funding to ensure that adult social care staff are paid at least the real living wage. Today we’re going further and our new investment will ensure that adult social care staff who are currently paid the real living wage will get a pay rise of over five per cent."