Scottish Government challenged to create a national outcome for care

The Scottish Government is being challenged to make a ‘transformative and world leading commitment to all carers’, by creating a world-first national outcome for care.

A new poll demonstrates strong public support (64% of respondents) for a new national outcome on care. Campaigners believe the Scottish Government review of national outcomes provides Ministers with a golden opportunity to create an outcome for care. National outcomes cover areas such as health, poverty, the environment and education, and inform policy and spending decision-making.

If implemented, Scotland would become one of the first countries in the world to make such an explicit commitment to driving and transparently measuring progress on how care is valued.

In addition, the poll, carried out by YouGov on behalf of the A Scotland That Cares campaign, shows that three quarters (74%) of adults in Scotland believe that care work is not valued highly enough by the Scottish Government.

This figure represents a significant jump since the peak of the pandemic in 2020, when 62 per cent of Scottish adults said they didn’t think care work was valued highly enough by the Scottish Government.

The polling also reveals disappointment at the lack of additional practical support for paid carers (57%), unpaid carers (61%) or parents (55%).

A Scotland That Cares campaign, which is backed by over 60 organisations including frontline organisations representing unpaid carers, parents and paid care workers as well as prominent anti-poverty charities and think tanks.