Cost of free personal and nursing care in Scotland tops £900m

New figures from the Scottish Government reveal that the cost of providing free personal and nursing care has increased to more £900 million.

The amount spent on both providing care for people living at at home who need extra help, and for older people in care homes rose in 2023-24.

The estimated cost to councils of providing free personal and nursing care for those who need it amounted to £915.21 million.

The costs were revealed as the Scottish Government faces difficulties as it seeks to introduce a National Care Service – with councils, trade unions and opposition parties at Holyrood all opposed to the legislation needed to make this happen.

Scottish Government figures meanwhile revealed that local authorities spent an estimated £473 million providing personal care services for those aged 65 and over in 2023-24 – with this up by 7% from the estimated £444 million the previous year.

With the flagship policy having been expanded to help those under 65 as a result of Frank’s Law – named after former Dundee United footballer Frank Kopel who died from early onset dementia – the cost of providing care at home services to this age group also rose.

An estimated 16,960 people aged between 18 and 64 received care at home last year, up by 15% from they first became eligible for such assistance in 2018-19.

Meeting such needs cost councils an estimated £266 million in 2023-24, up by 3% from the previous year, with those aged 18 to 64 who need help and are still living in their home receiving an average of 20.4 hours of personal care each week.

That compares to the 9.8 hours of care received on average by those aged 65 and older, with an estimated 47,130 people in this age group receiving help to stay in their own home.

Meanwhile, the figures also showed councils spend an estimated £174 million in 2023-24 on free personal and nursing care payments to people aged 65 and over who are self-funding in care homes.

The bill for this was 10% higher than than the £157 million spent the previous year – with more than three quarters (77%) of the costs going towards providing free personal care, and the remaining 23% on free nursing care.

An additional £2.21 million was spent on free personal and nursing care for self funding care home residents aged between 18 and 64 – with this up by 15% from the total in 2022-23.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We want people to live safely and independently at home for as long as possible.

“To support them to do so, free personal care has been available to all residents in Scotland over the age of 65 for more than 22 years.

“It was extended to cover under-65s with debilitating conditions when Frank’s Law was introduced in 2019 and we are pleased to see so many people in Scotland taking up their statutory right to free personal care.”