Highland Lib Dems respond to care home deposits scandal

Responding to a BBC Disclosure report that families in Inverness have been fighting for years to claw back tens of thousands of pounds in care home deposits, Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Inverness and Nairn Neil Alexander said:

"People all over Scotland have been let down by the SNP government's failure to rescue our care system, and this latest scandal just shows how bad they’ve let it get.

"Hundreds of care homes in Scotland have collapsed over the last decade. It is shameful that older people and their families have fallen prey to exorbitant fees and threats simply for trying to access the care they need.

"If elected, I and my fellow Scottish Liberal Democrats will put fixing care for the elderly and social care at the top of the Scottish Government's agenda, making these sorts of scandals a thing of the past."

Liberal Democrat MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire Angus MacDonald said:

"Scotland's ageing population means we must address our care crisis as a matter of urgency. With at least 24 homes having sold up or collapsed across the Highland region alone in the last decade, action must be taken now.

"Five months ago, Tom Arthur, the SNP’s Minister for Social Care, committed to set up a working party to consider options for care in the Highlands, but the group has yet to be assembled.

"Care providers feel like they’re on their own. The SNP wasted four years and £30 million on a bureaucratic takeover of social care that they ultimately had to ditch, while the UK Labour Government only made things worse by clobbering providers with a cruel tax hike.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats are the only party with a realistic plan to fix this crisis. We are calling for the UK Government to exempt all care providers from their national insurance hike and introduce a new minimum wage for care workers £2 higher than the national minimum wage."