Guest blog: Public services are at the heart of a fairer Scotland

We need a serious debate about public services in Scotland: what quality of services do Scots want and how much are they willing to pay for them?

Scotland’s anti-poverty network the Poverty Alliance, and Scotland’s largest union UNISON have joined forces to take this message into the heart of every political party. Our aim is to influence the 2026 Scottish parliament campaigns, starting with fringe meetings at every party conference.

I want to thank the Poverty Alliance - and particularly policy and campaigns manager Ruth Boyle who speaks brilliantly about the importance of services in tackling poverty. I am delighted we are combining forces.

So far, Scottish Labour and Scottish LibDem conferences have been a great success with packed meetings and stimulating debate. Party members clearly share our frustrations and want to engage with us.

 

Poverty in Scotland

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report that a million Scots live in poverty – half a million in deep poverty - and a quarter are children. This has changed little in well over a decade.

Too many public service workers live in poverty too. With insecure work, earning below the Scottish Living Wage, and working two or three part-time jobs to make ends meet. This is particularly true of workforces dominated by women – like early years, care work and cleaning.

We have the longest NHS waiting lists since devolution, social care is a mess, and after taking brunt of cuts over the last 15 years local government is having an existential crisis.

Colleges are struggling, police services jobs are being cut, Scottish Water is subject to back door privatisation, near bankrupt universities are having to be bailed out by government, and libraries and leisure facilities are closing.

Working in public services is stressful, so staff leave. Managers delay replacing them to save money. Meaning remaining staff have twice the workload causing twice the stress, so they leave too. We must square this vicious circle

 

Investing in staff is investing in services.

Poverty in Scotland will not end unless we invest in our public services. Cash benefits are vital but so are in-kind benefits like toddler to adult education, cradle to grave health services, youth diversionary programmes and adult care.

Of course, wages are the largest part of the spend. What else would be? Public services rely on the skilled people who deliver them. A nursery is a nursery because it has trained early years practitioners, a library has librarians, and ambulances need paramedics. And staff need fair pay, rest breaks, training, opportunities to develop and time to plan and do paperwork.

That includes the less visible services too: environmental health, trading and building standards, public health, career advice, child reporters, environmental and water engineers, social work, planning teams, I could go on.

We may not see these people every day, but they provide essential services too.

 

The question is how we fund them?

Tinkering with the tax base is not resulting in the investment services need. Neither are glib phrases like ‘tax the rich’. Technology is important but not a substitute for adequate level of properly supported staff.

Of course, the public need value for money and no-one more than public service staff understand that. They see the problems and want reform. But that can’t always mean cuts.

Scots need to decide what quality of public services they want and how much they are willing to pay for them. And where better to do that than in a national parliamentary election next year.

Take council funding. We’ve had countless reviews of the council tax. All parties – one in government for 18 years - have at one time or another pledged to scrap this unfair tax. But it still exists and is still based on property values from 33 years ago, because all parties are terrified of the political consequences of changing it.

But that means councils do not have control of their own revenue and spend. They rely on central government who often ringfence budgets.

 

The economic cost of failing to tackle poverty is significant too

Doing more to prevent poverty is a good deal for the taxpayer. Paying for services through progressive taxation and delivery in the public sector supports fair access for all.

If you had to buy your services privately it would cost you a lot more - and many people would go without.

 

Public services are at the heart of a fairer society.

Poverty in Scotland will not end unless we invest in services to support the most vulnerable and enable all citizens to reach their full potential.

Cuts impact on the very people who need them most, it also causes more costs elsewhere in the system. Cuts to social care increase NHS waiting times and cuts to youth work increase justice costs. Staff off sick on NHS waiting lists is a barrier to economic growth. Moving towards preventative spend will save money rather than paying increasing costs for failure. Economic research foundations confirm that public spending is redistributive.

In essence, we need a balanced and progressive settlement which prioritises badly struggling services which low-income households rely on the most.

UNISON and the Poverty Alliance are determined to lead this debate in the run up to 2026.