Continuing as though it’s ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option for Scottish local authorities. APSE’s research has shown that UK local government expenditure will have fallen by 30% by 2020 from 2010, and this fall will take that spend to just 5.7% of gross domestic product (GDP). The last time local government’s share of GDP was this low was 1948, almost 70 years ago. As the ongoing impact of austerity continues to bite and expectations continue to rise, Scottish councils are confronted with a number of challenges, namely, health and social care integration, housing and commercialisation.

The pressures on the social care system have been well documented. Integrated health and social care boards were set up to alleviate some of these pressures, yet, members of these boards sometimes struggle to see outside of their own service’s needs and, as a result, social care quality can suffer. This is already causing problems with mental health patients and is likely to cause even bigger problems when children and family services move into the remit of these health and social care boards.