Two-tier System in Social Care

That the Parliament is concerned about what it sees as the two-tier system operating in social care; understands that, according to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), the average weekly rates paid by councils towards care costs are £832.10 for nursing care, and £719.50 for residential care; notes reports that 34% of care home places in Scotland are taken up by people who have to self-fund their care because they have savings over £29,750 and that these residents are charged, on average, 38% more than those whose fees are paid by councils; understands that many residents and their families believe that self-funders are being exploited and targeted for excessive profiteering to make up for any shortfall in publicly funded places; calls on the Scottish Government to take the immediate steps to end what it considers to be this two-tier system by ensuring that self-funders have the same protections as councils and pay on the same rates as councils, and believes that the Scottish Government has a duty to put in place the same protections for self-funders as are in place through the national contract for councils and allow older people who have worked hard and saved for their retirement to enjoy more of their own money.