6. I refer members to my entry in the register of members’ interests, as I am a member of the GMB trade union.

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will reintroduce the social care staff support fund, or take other action to improve sick pay provision for social care workers, in the light of reports of a survey by GMB Scotland stating that 80 per cent of social care workers in the private sector have considered quitting, and wider warnings that the care sector is on the brink of collapse. (S6F-02119)

I recognise that Monica Lennon, rightly, often raises incredibly important issues to do with adult social care. We all know that Covid-19 created an enormous challenge for the social care sector throughout the United Kingdom and in Scotland. That is why we introduced the social care staff support fund in order to support the workforce and protect our most vulnerable people. I thank the social care workforce for all the vital work that they did during the height of the pandemic and the work that they are currently doing under significant pressure and extreme challenge. Our fund continued for longer than funds in any other UK nation, but it was always a temporary measure, particularly when self-isolation rules were in place.

Fair work is central to improving recruitment, retention and staff wellbeing in the sector, so we will continue our work to promote those practices and improve pay, conditions and the workers’ voice. To that end, we have guaranteed an additional £100 million to uplift pay to £10.90 per hour, which took effect from April this year. We have made a commitment to reaching £12 an hour for adult social care workers who are delivering direct care.

Carers who are in the gallery, their colleagues and the people they care for deserve much better than that. The fund was time limited, but the crisis in social care is getting worse by the day. As was highlighted in the

Sunday Post

, carers are urging the Government to reinstate the fund because they cannot afford to get sick. Removing that financial safety net now without an alternative solution will accelerate the collapse of social care and push the NHS further into crisis.

To her credit, Jeane Freeman listened to the workers and worked with Scottish Labour to introduce the fund in the first place. Will Humza Yousaf’s Government listen, meet the workers and our unions, and do the right thing?

The First Minister:

We will be happy to meet trade unions, which we do regularly. The Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care will do that, and I am happy to continue my engagement with trade unions.

We are taking action to address pay, which is why we funded a further pay increase to the tune of £100 million this financial year. It is also why the work that is being done to introduce legislation on a national care service and get the service up and running is vital. At the heart of that service are fair work principles, such as sectoral bargaining.

We will not wait for the national care service to be in place—work is already going on through the fair work in social care group, which has developed a set of minimum standards for terms and conditions that reflect fair work principles. Those standards include sick pay and maternity and paternity pay to assist with recruitment in the sector. We want to continue to make progress with the national care service exactly because the adult social care landscape, which involves private providers, in-house local authority providers and third sector providers, is fragmented. How much better it would be to have national consistency across the country, which we can only really achieve with the national care service.

The Presiding Officer:

We move to general and constituency supplementary questions. I ask for brief questions and responses.