A COMPREHENSIVE plan and timescale for social care reform needs to be set out quickly by the Scottish Government, Audit Scotland has warned.

The SNP said during the election campaign they would create a national care service on par with the NHS if re-elected, a position also shared by Labour and the Scottish Greens. But Scotland’s government watchdog has called on the Scottish Government to lay out what the service would look like, and when it would be in place.

The SNP manifesto said the service would be created within this parliamentary term, and a plan for the first 100 days of the new term endorsed by Nicola Sturgeon said a consultation would be launched.

Audit Scotland’s Antony Clark, interim controller of audit and interim director of performance audit and best value, wrote in a blog post: “More detailed work and engagement is required by the Scottish Government on understanding demand and the cost of providing new models of care and how it will be funded.

“A clear plan and timescales are also needed quickly.”

The post also said that implementation of the recommendations of the Feeley report – an independent review of adult social care in Scotland – would cost at least £660 million extra per year, on top of an expected rise in social care spending of £2.8 billion to £6.8bn by 2035. The SNP manifesto said social care would see an increase in annual spending of £800m in this parliamentary term.

Clark said it was not yet clear how the Scottish Government planned to pay for the increases.

“Feeley and other recent reports are broadly agreed: the current approach to providing social care support in Scotland needs to change, and the pandemic has made existing issues worse,” he wrote.

“Demand for care at home and giving people more choice and control over their own lives is also rising.

“But the new models of care required to tackle these trends – involving the public, private and third sectors – will cost more money and it’s not clear how they will be funded.”

The Feeley report outlined a number of ways for revenue to fund the recommendations could be raised, most of which involved the tax system – including the creation of a new local tax, seeking greater powers of taxation or changing existing levels.