Free personal care hard to justify, finds Scottish review

Free personal care for older people in Scotland is “hard to justify”, according to an independent review of public expenditure in the country.

The report of the Scottish Independent Budget Review Panel said the policy needed to re-examined in the light of demographic pressures and public spending contraints.

It set out a series of options for reform, including ending free personal care in care homes or reducing the value of weekly payments to recipients.

More broadly, it said a debate was needed over whether services that were currently free in Scotland, such as personal care, should be subject to means-testing to allow better targeting of those in most need.

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