Free Personal and Nursing Care, Scotland, 2023-24

This section presents estimates of expenditure by local authorities on free personal care, for people receiving personal care as part of their Care at Home services. The numbers presented are estimated annual totals, calculated from quarterly data supplied by the local authorities. Please see the data quality section for more information on how these estimates have been calculated.

Age 65 and over

An estimated £473 million was spent on free personal care services for Care at Home clients aged 65 and over in 2023-24. This is a 7% increase from the estimated £444 million spent the previous year.

Per client, the estimated average annual expenditure on free personal care for Care at Home clients aged 65 and over receiving personal care was around £11,100 in 2023-24. This is 2% increase from the estimated average annual spend of around £10,900 per client in 2022-23.

Please note: the numbers quoted only account for spending by the 29 local authorities able to submit data – see above.

Before 2021-22, data on expenditure on free personal care for Care at Home clients aged 65 and over was sourced from the LFR03 return. Since 2021-22, we have used data supplied in the Quarterly Monitoring Return. Data from before 2021-22 is therefore not comparable with data since 2021-22. See expenditure data under limitations of data and further background in the methodology and background information document accompanying this publication for more information.

Age 18 to 64 

An estimated £266 million was spent on free personal care services for Care at Home clients aged 18 to 64 receiving personal care in 2023-24. This is a 3% increase from the estimated £258 million spent the previous year.

Expenditure on personal care for Care at Home clients aged 18 to 64 has increased by nearly 50% (49%) from an estimated £179 million in 2018-19, the last year before Frank’s Law extended Free Personal Care to all adults assessed as needing it. This is an average increase of just over 8% per year.

Per client, the estimated average annual expenditure on free personal care services for Care at Home clients aged 18 to 64 receiving personal care was around £22,500 in 2023-24. This was the same as in 2022 23.

Please note: the numbers quoted only account for spending by the 29 local authorities able to submit data – see above.

Data on expenditure for those aged 18 to 64 has been estimated from the Quarterly Monitoring Return since 2018-19 (first published in the Extension to Free Personal Care publication (2020-21). See expenditure data under limitations of data and further background in the methodology and background information document accompanying this publication, for more information.

Full data for both age groups is available in the accompanying tables, both at Scotland total and local authority level.

Possible explanations for long-term trends in expenditure data

Many local authorities have seen a rise in free personal care costs for Care at Home clients, from 2014-15. In addition to possible increased demand, this is likely related to reasons including:

• a shift in the balance of care, away from care homes towards more Care at Home
• the introduction of equal pay provision resulting in higher wage costs
• the provision of refunds to clients for meal preparation where this was previously charged for
• introduction of real living wage and other wage inflation which has led to increased cost of services
• inflation of other costs included in providing the personal care service. The values presented in this publication are not adjusted for inflation.