2 April via Zoom
Jim Elder-Woodward - Chairperson
Justina Oguguo
Joan Turner
Kate Walsh left at 12.54 pm
Martha Shortreed
Chris Mercer
Gordon McKee
Andy Higgins left at 12.29 pm
Chloe McKee left at 12.36 pm
Steven Hanlon left at 12.29 pm
Maree Todd left at 12.29 pm
Peter Scott
Lee House
Harvey Tilley
Emma O’Neill
Karen Burnett
Robert White joined at 12.50 pm
1. Emma / Lee to send out the Strategy Draft report for review and comment from the Group.
Jim welcomed everyone to the meeting. Everyone agreed that Lee would record the meeting.
Minutes agreed and signed off. Lee to pass to communications team to upload to ILF Scotland website.
1. Lee to send out the terms of reference so group members can vote on chair and vice chair. (Done)
2. ILF Scotland to draft a letter for Jim to send to ministers to ask about timescales for removing Available Income charges. (Done)
Jim asked everyone to introduce themselves to minister before starting the meeting. Each group member described the impact of having ILF Scotland funding and what they enjoyed doing in their life because of it.
Jim agreed with the Minister to send an email with anything that couldn’t be covered in the allotted time.
Jim asked the Minster about abolishing available income and whether this was likely to happen.
The Minister thanked everyone for their hard work that was completed to get the ILF Scotland fund re-opened. The Minister advised that the Scottish Government is still committed to reviewing non-residential care charges. The Minister feels the best way of working is to concentrate on delivering this as part of a broader piece of social work care charging and part of the broader reform of social care.
The Minister stated she understands the frustration of the stakeholder group on this matter. The Minister advised that ILF Scotland funding will not be stopped within her tenure and gave personal assurance on this matter.
The Minister discussed the problems encountered when trying to implement the recommendations of the Feeley report. The Minister advised that if we are not able to deliver the change that we need to see, then there will be questions to be answered by those who opposed the change. We are in the process of setting up the advisory boards while linking in with COSLA on this matter. The board has been set up to help advise the Minister on matters and the hope is this is all transparent.
The Minister stated she would like more money than there currently is being invested in Social Care across Scotland.
The Minister advised at the start of summer, last year, they made an agreement to stand back from negotiations because they were worried about capacity within COSLA because of the need to focus on delay discharge issues. They then put the negotiations on the Shared Accountability Agreement to one side, and they said we'll pause for a period of time until we get some traction on the discharge issue.
The Minister advised that the Scottish Government can't deliver an improvement in social care without local authorities being involved and without them being a part of it.
The Minister added if we don't make progress, then there will have to be a change in the way we approach it.
Jim raised the issue of having a Group Member present on the Advisory Board.
There needs to be a balance between being small and agile and having an adequate representation that we had as part of the NCS Advisory Board.
The Minister advised the Group that it will be led by someone who has lived experience and has the right skill set to make progress in what's going to be a difficult situation which brings voices together who are fiercely independent.
The Minister stated the Scottish Government are committed to the uplift of the hourly rate for social care workers. The Minister agreed that the rate of pay across all social care sectors needs more investigation and work to ensure everyone is paid fairly.
Peter gave the Stakeholder Group an update on the re-opened Scotland fund. The current applications submitted is at 700, going into year two ILF Scotland will need to manage the budget carefully and not to overspend.
Robert advised the Group that the assessor team had completed 1,060 reviews in the last year. The turnaround time for completing reviews has come down from 171 days to 121 days. The hold-up with completing reviews is awaiting confirmation of packages from the Local Authorities.
Robert advised the Group that the re-opened fund now has 793 applications with a turnaround time of 90 days which is less than a 2015 fund review but is still too long.
Karen advised the Group on the new PVG legislation that came into operation as of April 1st, 2025. Karen advised it is now mandatory for PAs to be members of the scheme. As is a regulated rule there being a 3-month grace period for people joining the scheme before any action is taken. The onus is on the PA to join the scheme. There is now information on the ILF Scotland website about the changes. Karen has asked members to submit any feedback or information they hear about PAs joining the scheme.
All the feedback from the events has been brought together in a draft report which will be shared with the Group to gather further feedback.
Linda confirmed there will be a 10th Celebration event happening in June and the team were working on securing a venue.
The next meeting is 29 May 2025.
