Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 February 2026
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has decided to recalculate the baseline for funding the uplift to the real Living Wage in its draft Budget 2026-27, in light of it funding it in its entirety for nearly 10 years for adult social care workers, and concerns that social care employers will have a £19 million gap to cover.
The draft Budget 2026-27 set out a further £160 million investment to enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to adult social care workers in commissioned services in the next financial year.
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government has subsequently announced that a further £20 million will be allocated to the Local Government Settlement for Social Care, which can be used towards funding the Real Living Wage for adult and childcare sectors.
This will take the total Scottish Government investment in adult social care pay to over £1.1 billion annually.