Report: Care Inspectorate – Summary of Social Work Expenditure for Scotland 2006 – 2015

The Care Inspectorate has today published a statistical summary of social work expenditure and activity for Scotland covering the period 2006/7 to 2014/15.

It shows that general spending on social work services by local authorities has gradually increased in the last nine years. There is often significant variation between local authorities, and this can be examined within the specific local authority reports which have also been published today.

Almost half of the overall social work expenditure is spent on services for older people. This is a consistent trend seen over recent years, in line with Scotland’s aging population profile.

Spending on services for children and families, older people’s services and services for people with learning disabilities have experienced a very gradual increase over the period, while the budget for mental health services has decreased by 12%.

The spend on addiction services has also experienced a significant change, with expenditure increasing by 56% since 2009.

Karen Reid, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate said: “Social work plays a vital role in supporting vulnerable people to live fulfilled, independent lives. We hope these figures will enable each area to gain an understanding of their social work spending and activities, and of the national picture. There are significant differences in different parts of Scotland, because local councils should make decisions around social work spend in order to respond local needs. What’s needed in a rural area might be very different from what is needed in a city.

“There is certainly not an automatic link between spend and quality. The Care Inspectorate leads joint inspections of services for children and, with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, for older people. It is those inspections, rather than statistics, which really tell the story of how well local agencies are working together to improve outcomes for people.

“This is a time of significant change and I hope this data will be useful for integration joint boards as they start planning how to integrate social care and health, so services are commissioned strategically.”

• The report is available here: http://cinsp.in/2dh4vEd
• The full data set is available here: http://cinsp.in/2dFIOhI

Summary reports were previously provided to local authorities by the Social Work Inspection Agency and then Office of the Chief Social Work Adviser, this is the first time the Care Inspectorate has made the collated information available online.

The Care Inspectorate regularly publishes its findings about the availability and quality of care, most recently “Inspecting and improving social care and social work in Scotland” and the “Joint Inspections of Services for Adults” and the “Joint Inspection on Services for Children and Young People” which are available here: http://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/publications-statistics