COWDENBEATH MSP Annabelle Ewing has applauded a scheme which will see a rise in pay for social care workers.

Measures were laid out by First Minister Humza Yousaf in the Scottish Parliament for his first Programme for Government.

Included were proposals to pay social care workers in a direct care role at least £12 an hour, an issue on which the Fife politician said she has pressed the Scottish Government for some time.

“Increasing the pay of social care workers has been an aspiration of the Scottish Government for some time and I have been pressing successive Deputy First Ministers for progress on this issue, so I was absolutely delighted to hear the FM give a firm commitment in today’s Programme for Government to pay social care workers in a direct care role at least £12 an hour," she said.

“More broadly, this Programme for Government will build stronger communities, improve social justice, reduce inequalities, including in health and social care, and tackle child poverty. A package of measures which Humza, rightly, described as ‘unashamedly anti-poverty’.

“What a clear contrast to those policies being imposed on us from Westminster that are creating the Cost of the Union Crisis impacting so many of my constituents lives today. The two-child limit and the benefit cap – both of which Labour have said they would keep – inflict hardship on families on the lowest incomes.

"The UK’s two-child limit has removed over £340 million from families in Scotland since 2017, whereas the Scottish Government’s policies have meant that 90,000 fewer children will live in relative and absolute poverty in 2023."