The Scottish Budget does not fully fund the uplift in the Real Living Wage due to the uplift being applied to the National Living Wage and not the existing Real Living Wage as done in previous years.
The £160m funding for implementation is c.£15m short of the requirement.
There is a further c.£4m pressure in Early Learning and Childcare and Children’s Social Care.
This document which has today (2nd February) been released by COSLA, was prepared by the Local Government Finance team. It is a post-budget briefing on social care.
2nd February 2026