National Care Service
The Scottish Government proposed the creation of a National Care Service (NCS) to provide universal, high-quality care to the people of Scotland. The NCS would be publicly funded and managed, with the aim of bringing together the different types of care currently provided by various agencies and organisations.
The plans included expanding access to care, improving pay and conditions for care workers and increasing support for unpaid carers.
The NCS was also intended to address issues such as the fragmentation of care services, variability in quality, and the lack of consistency in care provision.
The National Care Service Bill was laid before the Scottish Parliament in June 2022 and passed Stage 1 at the end of February 2024.
Shared Care Scotland, along with the other National Carer Organisations, published a briefing on the National Care Service ahead of the Stage 1 Debate.
It was expected that significant amendments would be made to the NCS Bill in Stage 2 and Shared Care Scotland continued to work to ensure that short breaks and respite remained at the forefront of discussions. At Stage 2, the proposal for the creation of a National care Service (Part 1 of the original Bill) was removed, and the Bill was renamed to the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill. A statement from former Minster for Social Care and Mental Wellbeing, Maree Todd outlined the future of the National Care Service, to which the National Carer Organisations responded.
Care Reform (Scotland) Bill
The revised Care Reform (Scotland) Bill passed Stage at the start of March 2025, and subsequently passed the final vote and changes at Stage 3 on 10 June 2025. This included the Right to a Break.
Right to a Break
The Care Reform (Scotland) Bill also contained an amendment to the existing Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 to introduce a legal right to personalised short breaks support for unpaid carers.
This right is intended to ensure that all carers will be able to take sufficient breaks from providing care.
More information on the Right to a Break and the ongoing work of Shared Care Scotland to support this right is available here.