NICOLA Sturgeon’s flagship reform of Scotland’s care services has been delayed by three years and could cost as much as £2.2bn, it emerged tonight.
That is almost double the initial estimate of £1.2bn to set up the National Care Service.
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Earlier this year, councils, unions, think tanks and charities demanded a pause in the SNP’s Bill, which sets up new regulation of the care home and social care sector – though does not nationalise care homes.
The fresh figures come months after MSPs criticised the government for a lack of detail, but will see the service fully running by summer 2029, three years later than initially promised.
If planned changes to the bill are passed by MSPs, the cost could drop even further.
Ministers are planning to bring forward a wide range of amendments which would see savings of as much as £1.2bn, costing taxpayers more than £900m overall.
This includes abandoning a “power grab” taking control of social care from councils, saving millions on staff costs.
Plans for regional Care Boards are also likely to be ditched, with ministers instead exploring “reforming current local structures”.
If MSPs do not back the planned changes as expected, however, the total costs could still reach the £2.2bn mark.
The vote on Stage 1 of the bill was delayed before summer to allow ministers to put “more meat” on its bones, but is still yet to be voted on by MSPs.
Ministers have also confirmed spending will now take place over 10 years, running well into the next parliamentary session and beyond 2030.
Nicola Sturgeon, when introducing the changes, claimed the reforms will remove the “postcode lottery” from social care.
But critics say the scheme, which will see ministers oversee the NCS, will strip powers from councils and add new bureaucracy.
Holyrood insiders praised the memorandum for being a “serious” piece of work and a marked improvement on the previous version.
“I have more confidence that a proper job is being done across the entire programme,” one said.
In her letter to the finance committee, Maree Todd said: “We continue to engage with unions on workforce matters and have completed extensive co-design work with people with lived and living experience of using, or working in, community health and social care.”