SORTED; A Handbook for An Independent Scotland.
In 2022 Common Weal published SORTED, a vision for a shared future in an independent Scotland. This book brought together many of our key policy areas spanning 10 years of work.
Sorted imagines we are at the start of the first ten years of Scotland being an independent country. It describes what kind of society we can now build and explains the guiding principles of how to go about building it. From how to develop our industrial base, tackle poverty, combat the climate crisis, raise wages, improve our quality of life and stay safe in an uncertain world – and much more besides. If there’s something you think needs fixed, you’ll probably find an explanation of how to fix it in these pages.
In 2023 We began a campaign to highlight stories of ordinary people whose lives will be improved within a SORTED Scotland.
Blueprint for a national Care Service
In 2020 Common Weal published a report into the impact of Covid in care homes. This led to the establishment of a Care Reform Group to look at all kinds of care issues and develop ideas and policy. When it was announced that the Scottish Government would create a National Care Service that became the focus of the work.
The aim was to produce a document as substantial and visionary as the Beveridge Report that led to the creation of the NHS. This report is the culmination of 18 months of work (and a host of individual reports on specific elements of it) and sets out a detailed plan for what a National Care Service should be.
Care is the glue which holds society together and the vast majority of care is informal, citizens looking after family and friends.
Social Care Briefing Papers
Scottish Government currently is asking for responses to their consultation on Social Care, focused on exploring the suggestions for significant cultural and system change that will need to be supported by primary legislation, new laws, to ensure the governance and accountability across the system to deliver successfully for people.
The consultation has been the focus for much of the work carried out by the Common Weal Social Care Working Group, who will be responding to the consultation in detail and sharing their response with you to help you respond should you wish to do so.
How to start a new country
Common Weal believes in Scottish independence – but we believe it is essential to get it right. It’s not enough to tell people independence would be ‘good for them’, you have to explain how it would be done and be ready to answer their questions.
In our latest campaign, we’ll be talking about what we can do now.. and what needs to be done… so that an independent Scotland puts All of Us First.
Land Reform week
This year Common Weal launched three major new reports on land reform and land use in Scotland. On Tuesday we launched our report on the potential for rural jobs in Scotland if we reformed our land ownership.
Today is our landmark report on how to do it.
The Common Home Plan is a reason for optimism and hope. It is a costed proposal for how to avert the environmental crises, transform Scotland and get the nation ready for the era to come. Developed by the Common Weal think tank, it fulfills Scotland’s responsibility to the rest of the world – and to ourselves as well. It’s how we can both improve our quality of life now and leave future generations a legacy we can be proud of.
Good jobs, economic equality, environmental sustainability, social cohesion.. Common Weal spent lockdown preparing a detailed plan for how we can achieve all of this