Today’s announcements on social care are no different: the Scottish Government has social care powers and so Burnham’s plans to reform the system won’t directly impact Scotland – but might they have an indirect influence? But while it was a speech focused on care in England, it raises questions about the state of social care in Scotland. The Care Reform (Scotland) Act was passed in 2025, and while it brought forward positives such as a digitally integrated care record and record-sharing between social care and health care services, the central tenet of a national care service was missing. Despite the services being managed differently, the relationship between the social care sector and the NHS is significant. Meanwhile, recent reports reveal that more than 9,000 people in Scotland are still waiting for either a social care assessment or a home care package.