Responses to Freedom of Information requests from the Scottish Conservatives show that almost £400 million has been spent by councils in the last five years to plug staffing gaps.
An MSP has slammed “shocking” new figures revealing the amount North Lanarkshire Council are spending on social care overtime and agency staff.
Responses to Freedom of Information requests from the Scottish Conservatives show that almost £400 million has been spent by councils in the last five years to plug staffing gaps.
The true figure could be even higher as not all councils responded to the requests for information.
In North Lanarkshire a total £737,493 was spent on agency staff while North Lanarkshire incurred overtime costs of £24,899,476, the second highest in Scotland behind Glasgow.
Central Scotland list MSP Meghan Gallacher says that social care in North Lanarkshire is in crisis on the SNP’s watch and staff are completely overwhelmed.
She says the SNP squandered £30 million on their doomed national care service plan, which would have been better spent on local care provision.
Meghan said: “These shocking figures show how the SNP has allowed social care services in North Lanarkshire to fall into crisis.
“Cash-strapped councils such as North Lanarkshire are already dealing with the consequences of brutal SNP cuts to their budget year after year.
“They do not have the resources to be spending millions paying staff overtime or bringing in agency workers to fill the gaps.
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“Staff are already completely overwhelmed without having to work even more hours.
“SNP ministers squandered tens of millions on their national care service, which was doomed from the start and would have done nothing to alleviate the pressures facing services in North Lanarkshire right now.
“They need to stop squandering money on bureaucracy and instead spend every spare penny on frontline care. Staff in North Lanarkshire cannot continue to be asked to go the extra mile, while paying this much in agency fees is unsustainable.
“These costs must come down, and the money saved used by local social care providers to bring in more in-house, permanent staff.”
In response, a Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are working tirelessly to improve the outcomes of people who either need or receive social care to fulfil our commitment to deliver the sustainable change that people urgently need.
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“The 2025-26 budget includes over £15 billion for the local government settlement and almost £2.2 billion for social care and integration – exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25% by almost £350 million.
“At £21.7 billion, the overall financial envelope for health and social care also reached record levels. We are also implementing the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 that was unanimously passed by Parliament in June.
“This is a significant step that will strengthen the rights of people living in care homes, support unpaid carers and social workers, while improving experiences for the many people who access social care across Scotland.
“The money spent on the national care service programme from August 2021 to date is only 0.45% of the total £8.7 billion allocated across the same period through Scottish Government budget for social care and integration.
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“Many of the external pressures facing the sector are a result of UK Government decisions, including increasingly restrictive and hostile migration policies and increases to national insurance contributions – which are set to cost the social care sector £84 million.”
A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council said: “These figures cover the five years that included the COVID-19 pandemic, during which it was very difficult to recruit and retain staff in social care.”
“There has been significant work undertaken recently to improve the levels of recruitment and retention.”
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