Book Review: People Before Profit: The Future of Social Care in Scotland by Social Work Action Network (SWAN) & the Jimmy Reid Foundation

It is apt that the introductory sentiment in this pamphlet reminds us that ‘every crisis also brings forth opportunity’ (Ferguson and Gall, p. 3). The year 2020 was marked by the turbulence of global pandemic and, following controversial numbers of COVID-19 related deaths in Scottish residential care homes, the Scottish Government commissioned Feeley Review of Adult Care in Scotland was published. The contributors to People Before Profit: The Future of Social Care in Scotland address both the crisis and the recommendations within the review by drawing attention to the voices and experiences of those significantly affected by the pandemic over the last year. The Feeley Review, while identifying the need for a National Care Service, still envisions private sector involvement. In contrast, this pamphlet takes an alternative position and drawing from a range of perspectives, the central argument rests upon the necessity of a ‘nationalised’ care service, free from marketisation and run on the basis of need rather than profit.