National Care Service Statement

We share the frustrations of many of our peers in the third sector regarding this development, particularly given the time invested by Volunteer Scotland, our stakeholders, and countless volunteers in social care settings, to shaping the proposals. However, we welcome the news from the Minister that several plans detailed in the Bill will still proceed.

The plan to proceed with the introduction of Anne’s Law, which upholds the rights of residents in care homes to be visited by families or friends, is welcome. We will be advocating to ensure that volunteers providing one-to-one social and emotional support to care home residents will also be guaranteed access. The evidence regarding the benefits of befriending, particularly for the alleviation of health outcomes associated with social isolation and loneliness, were detailed in our initial response to the National Care Service (Scotland) Bill consultation back in 2022.

The ongoing commitment to ensure unpaid carers have the right to breaks is also welcomed. The provision of unpaid care is often conflated with volunteering, but they are not the same. The provision of unpaid care, whilst undertaken from a place of love, is often not voluntary. In fact, there is evidence to suggest that unpaid carers benefit considerably from participating in volunteering, reflected in recent findings that people with caring responsibilities are more likely to participate in formal volunteering. However, this same data also demonstrates that volunteering participation drops significantly for people providing over 50 hours of care per week. With this in mind, it is vital that carers are afforded the time to prioritise activities which support their own wellbeing, including volunteering.

Finally, we cautiously welcome the development of a non-statutory Advisory Board but are concerned that the letter shared with us by the Minister for Social Care did not explicitly stipulate representation on the Board from the third sector. Third sector organisations and their volunteers are a vital component of Scotland’s care sector, particularly in the early intervention and prevention space. As such, it is crucial that they are represented on the Advisory Board.

Volunteer Scotland will continue to advocate for the contribution and interests of volunteers in the delivery of care services across Scotland. If you would like to contribute to our advocacy work, you can join the Volunteering Action Plan Policy Champions Network.