FEARS are growing that councils will face an exodus of social work and social care staff because of uncertainties over their jobs and pensions with the advent of the National Care Service.
Public sector Unison state that social work and care staff are already overworked and face ever-increasing pressures and a change in employer with a possible detrimental impact on pensions could be the final straw.
And Dumfries and Galloway Unison secretary Jan Andrews, above, has warned that she has had members contacting her asking about the impact on their pensions and some are even talking about leaving.
She added: “The job of a social worker or social care worker is not easy at the best of times.
“Our members are extremely hard-working, conscientious, and committed but like many other council workers, they have had so many demands put upon them and they can only take so much.
“They don’t know at the moment what the National Care Service Bill means for them, their jobs, and their pensions. No one knows at this stage.
“Unfortunately, the information provided so far by the Scottish Government is very light on detail. We don’t even know when we’ll find out.
“For so little detail to be provided about something so important is totally unacceptable and it is little wonder some social work and social care workers are thinking about retiring now.
“We are extremely worried that as workers realise their pensions could be at risk, there could be a mad scramble of applications for early retirement. We fear there could be a mass exodus from services that are already struggling to get staff and keep staff.
“That would be a tragedy for the services that they provide and for the service users who rely on these services. We must not forget it is people who are vulnerable that depend on social work and social care support. The last thing they want, or need is further problems through staff shortages which are totally unavoidable.”
The Scottish Government’s proposed National Care Service Bill could mean up to 75,000 local government jobs throughout Scotland would transfer, away from the council to other providers, over 1400 of them in Dumfries and Galloway.
Unison wants the Scottish Government to pause introduction of the bill and to direct resources to the front line, improving services, pay and conditions for all staff working in social care.
Unison’s Dumfries and Galloway Branch will be discussing the potential impact of the National Care Service at its forthcoming AGM at 5.30 pm on Thursday, March 2 at The Bridge, Glasgow Road, Dumfries with a guest speaker talking about the dangers for workers in the social work and social care sector.
