'Whopping' overtime and agency bill for social care under fire as Scottish council spending revealed
Figures shows spike in spending over past five years
The Scottish Government’s track record on social care has come under renewed fire, with new figures revealing a “whopping” bill of more than £400 million spent by councils on overtime and agency staff in just five years.
Spending records obtained by the Scottish Conservatives show more than £200m has been spent on agency workers by councils since 2020, with an almost identical sum going on overtime payments over the same period.
Almost a quarter of the total was incurred by Glasgow City Council. Scotland’s largest council spent £37.5m on agency staff and £62.2m on overtime in the past five years.
Edinburgh City Council was the next highest spender, with a combined outlay of £40.1m, followed by West Dunbartonshire Council, which spent £29.2m.
The figures, obtained via Freedom of Information legislation, show the annual cost of agency and overtime in the social care sector has also increased by 42 per cent, up from £60.2m in 2020/21 to £85.7m in 2024/25.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, said the figures showed how the SNP Government was presiding over a social care crisis. He warned the money “squandered” on a Scottish National Care Service could and should have been used to hire extra care workers.
“These shocking, whopping figures expose an exhausted workforce, with chronic staff shortages forcing carers into endless overtime,” he said. “Councils are grappling with brutal SNP budget cuts, and the Government’s failure to address staff shortages in the care sector has left them robbing Peter to pay Paul, to the tune of £400m.
“The SNP shamefully squandered £30m on their doomed National Care Service - money that could have been used to hire extra care workers and take the pressure off overworked staff. SNP ministers must urgently cut waste in the public sector and redirect savings to support our struggling frontline services.”
The data shows significant increases in the level of spending at some local authorities. Argyll & Bute Council, for example, had a bill for social care agency staff of £804,759 in 2020/21. But that figure shot up to more than £1.8m the following year, £3.4m in 2023/24, and nearly £5m in 2024/25 - five times the annual amount from the height of the Covid lockdowns.
The Government scrapped plans for a National Care Service in January. Former first minister Nicola Sturgeon described it as the most ambitious reform since devolution when it was announced in 2021. More than £28.7m was spent on work related to the service before plans were eventually shelved.
Last week, staff at Scotland’s social care charity embarked on strike action as part of an ongoing pay dispute over what they describe as “years of broken promises”.
The Unison members at Enable Scotland staged the action on two days, with rallies held in Glasgow. The union estimates care workers have been underpaid by £5,500 since April 2022 as a result of the Government’s “broken promise” to match carers’ pay with NHS rates.
Unison estimates that while workers within the NHS are paid £13.22 an hour on band two of the NHS pay scale, those working outside the health service earn £12.60.
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.
“The 2025/26 Budget includes over £15 billion for the local government settlement and almost £2.2bn for social care and integration, exceeding our commitment to increase funding by 25 per cent by almost £350m. At £21.7bn, the overall financial envelope for health and social care also reached record levels.
The spokesman added: “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 £84m.”
He also said the Government was implementing the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, describing it as 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.
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