Report warns disabled people are being let down in their right to help with basic needs.

Scotland’s social care charges are “unfair and damaging” and should be scrapped, a new report has found.

A report by the Scottish Women’s Budget Group for anti-poverty charity the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said disabled people are being let down in their right to help with basic needs.

It said “no meaningful progress” has been made on ending non-residential social care charges since the Scottish Government promised to do so in 2021.

The Time to End Social Care Charging in Scotland report found the “unfair, inconsistent system” is leaving some families struggling to make ends meet.

Researchers reviewed a decade of publications on social care charging, examining how it works across Scotland, and spoke to disabled people, councillors, and officials.

They found “considerable variation” in the charges levelled for social care, which covers non-residential practical support for disabled and older people, such as help at home with laundry or shopping, daycare and transport, meals and lunch clubs.

Chris Birt, Joseph Rowntree Foundation associate director for Scotland, said: “Politicians need to keep their promise to end social care charging. Our report shows the policy is unfair and inconsistent across Scotland, and is leaving those who are already struggling facing further hardship.

“Some of the experiences detailed by disabled people in the report are truly shocking, illustrating the need for urgent action.

“We know that significant reductions in poverty will only happen if disabled people’s lives are improved, and ending social care charging would be a good first step.

“More than half of children in poverty in Scotland live in a home where someone is disabled, so it would also help tackle child poverty.

“Our report makes a clear case for the immediate end to all social care charging, as has repeatedly been promised by the Scottish Government.

“It also provides a roadmap for councils to at the very least make their charging systems more transparent, more consistent and, crucially, more fair.”

The report also found that people with the same needs are being charged differently depending on where they live.

One disabled person said they had to “sacrifice baths, showers and hair washing” due to the charges, while another said they were left with no money to do anything but sit at home alone.

The report found the current charging system is complex and lacks transparency, with councils’ charging decisions driven primarily by budget concerns rather than data.

One councillor interviewed anonymously told researchers that “for the most part”, decisions were based on “no data, just vibes”.

Estimates suggest that social care charges bring in around £50million annually, although the real figure could be much higher, and are “being borne by a small group of people, some of whom are on very low incomes, to enable councils to set a balanced budget”, the report found.

It added: “While those administering these policies aim for fairness within a complex system, current charging policies leave working-age households with very low incomes that are unfair and damaging.”

Tressa Burke, chief executive of Glasgow Disability Alliance, said: “Social care charges are a backdoor tax that only disabled people pay. We need a concerted effort by the Scottish Government and Cosla towards ending these charges, and to halting the default use of disability benefits to fund them.

“Disability benefits such as the Adult Disability Payment are intended to help towards the extra costs of being disabled, but this is being undermined by social care charging practices which plunge disabled people and their families into further and deeper poverty.”

Report co-author Sara Cowan of the Scottish Women’s Budget Group, which campaigns for gender equality, added:

“This research shines a light on a complex system that disabled people are expected to navigate in order to access care.

"The income threshold levels above which people are expected to pay for their care are shockingly low, and keep people in poverty.

“Politicians committed to ending these charges, and it’s time they stepped up and fulfilled the commitment.”