Quality Improvement Adviser

Published: 21 February 2025

Job title: Quality Improvement Adviser

Salary: £49,710 - £54,975 

Hours: 35 hours per week 

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Contract: Permanent


About us

We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services, and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

We desire to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. Our hybrid working policy gives you the flexibility to mix working from home with attendance at your base office and other work locations, spending no more than 60% of your working time working from home, measured over a 4-week period.

Starting salary

Please bear in mind that new entrants start on the grade minimum for the role. However, we have a generous benefits package which you will find on our website.

About the role

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Improvement Advisor (IA) to join the Quality Improvement Support Team (QIST) on a permanent basis.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, creative and highly motivated individual to support, develop and deliver our improvement interventions in line with, and to support, the implementation of our Quality Improvement and Participation Strategy.

The successful candidate will also be involved in supporting the building of quality improvement capacity and capability, internally and externally. They will also provide quality improvement support as required and will be part of ongoing quality improvement as priorities are identified.

About you

You will possess a recognised qualification in quality improvement methodology and have a good level of experience and a proven track record in leading quality improvement projects/programmes and evaluating their impact.

You will also have experience of providing quality improvement learning and development to a variety of staff groups and care providers.

Demonstrable interpersonal skills including public speaking, the ability to network with key professionals are essential, as are excellent verbal and written communication and organisational skills.

You should be educated to SCQF level 9.

You will be joining an enthusiastic, creative, highly motivated and supportive team and be a key player in taking forward our improvement strategy.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role, please contact Aidan McCrory, Quality Improvement Manager at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

If you believe that your skills, experience and motivation make you a suitable candidate for this post, complete the online application form by 08:00 on Monday 17 March 2025.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held [on/no sooner than] 9 April 2025 at our Dundee office office.

Downloads: 8198

Business Support Assistants

Published: 05 August 2024

Job title: Business Support Assistants

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Salary: £24,561 to £27,171

Hours: 35 hours per week

Contact: Permanent and Temporary


About us

We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services, and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards the expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week. 

Starting salary

New entrants will start on the grade minimum for the role. However, we have a generous total rewards package, which you can find more about on our website. 

About the role

We are excited to recruit motivated individuals to provide comprehensive business support in various Business Support Teams across our organisation. We have several temporary and permanent roles and have offices all over Scotland. Some of our posts will require a more office based approach depending on the function and duties associated within a team, in particular at our Dundee Headquarters.

You will support different parts of our organisation performing a range of administrative duties as well as advice and guidance to colleagues across the organisation. As well as being part of a small team you will be part of the wider organisational business support department which supports a range of administrative functions. You will also need to undertake wider general administrative duties and tasks as part of the office you will be based in as appropriate. Duties will be varied and may include reception cover, filing, word processing, data input, and general administrative duties. You will be proficient in adapting to various bespoke databases.

About you

We are looking for organised individuals who have good attention to detail, are customer-focused and enjoy working in a busy environment and within supportive teams. You will have a positive attitude and be keen to develop your skills and take on new challenges.

Successful candidates will demonstrate experience and a successful record of accomplishment within a similar role and be educated to SCQF level 5.  

The successful individuals will have:

  • A good working knowledge of Microsoft packages to include O365, Outlook; MS Forms; Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
  • A flexible, positive approach to work.
  • Ability to react to changing priorities and to prioritise conflicting demands.
  • Ability to forward plan and prevent any operational difficulties.
  • Excellent organisational skills.
  • Ability to work on your own initiative and prioritisation of workload.

In addition, it would be preferable to have experience of working with a range of external and internal contacts at various levels of an organisation and social care sector experience.

To apply

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you require any further information or for an informal chat, please contact Alison Allan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in the first instance.

You can visit our website to see the benefits of working with us including information on our offices across Scotland.

If you believe that your ability and motivation, make you suitable for this post, please complete our online application by no later than 08:00 on Monday 26 August 2024.

It is expected that interviews for this post will take place no earlier than 16 September 2024

Downloads: 7974

Personal Assistant

Published: 28 November 2023

Role: Personal Assistant

Location: Flexible – Any Care Inspectorate office

Salary: £27,696 - £30,357

Hours: 35 hours per week

Contract: Temporary (to 31 March 2025)


About us

The Care Inspectorate is the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services, and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards an expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week.

The Care Inspectorate offers a range of great benefits in addition to hybrid working and you can find out about them here on our website.

About the role

The Strategy and Improvement Directorate is focused on helping to improve outcomes for people who use care services in Scotland. We are looking to recruit a Personal Assistant, reporting to the Executive Support Officer, to provide high quality, confidential PA support to the Executive Director. The Executive Director leads teams in delivering complex projects. This role will form a key part of the Executive Director’s leadership team and will provide ad-hoc administrative support to that team.

This role will include checking and prioritising the Executive Director’s email correspondence and meeting invitations; developing and administering a system for dealing with enquiries and composing responses to routine correspondence and co-ordination of the Executive Director’s diary by arranging meetings, events, booking venues, and organising hospitality for visitors as necessary. The role will also cover the preparation of agendas and paperwork for meetings, minute-taking and monitoring of action records.

About you

You will have experience of providing PA support to senior management in a fast-paced change environment. You are highly organised and able to plan and manage your time and workstreams efficiently and effectively. You understand that priorities and deadlines can change quickly and you respond flexibly and effectively. You will have a proactive approach and be confident in using your own initiative. Your attention to detail is meticulous and you have a clear commitment to maintaining high standards. You are a great team worker and able to build and maintain good working relationships. You will have excellent word processing and IT skills with experience of Microsoft applications. You will also have experience of diary management and minute taking.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Claire Brown (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.

If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please complete our online application form by 08:00 on Monday 10 June 2024.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held at our Stirling office on 27 June 2024.

Downloads: 7557

Senior Improvement Adviser (Registered Nurse)

Published: 28 May 2024

Job title: Senior Improvement Adviser (registered nurse) (focus on mental health and learning disabilities)

Salary: £56,076 – £61,917 (pro rata)

Hours: Part time, 28 hours per week

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Cntract: Permanent


About us

We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services, and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. Our hybrid working policy gives you the flexibility to mix working from home with attendance at your base office and other work locations, spending no more than 60% of your working time working from home, measured over a 4-week period.

About the role

We are looking for a colleague who is a registered nurse with a passion for quality improvement to join the Health and Social Care Improvement Team (HSCIT) permanently.

Our team has quality improvement and health expertise. We use this to work strategically and operationally, with internal and external colleagues and frontline care staff. We do this so that people who experience care achieve improved health and wellbeing outcomes that matter to them.

You will support the Scrutiny and Assurance Directorate and Strategy and Improvement Directorate to ensure that the Care Inspectorate meets its responsibilities as defined by the Public Services Reform Act 2010 and other relevant legislation.

About you

You will be a registered nurse with significant specialist subject matter expertise and be able to combine it with an understanding of quality improvement theory/change management and its practical application in health and social care settings.

The application process

To apply, the successful applicant must be registered with NMC and maintain this professional registration in line with the Care Inspectorate’s Professional Registration Policy.

Hold a formal qualification in an aspect of improvement science such as Scottish Improvement Leader (ScIL) programme or working towards this or an equivalent improvement qualification.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Lynn Flannigan (Quality Improvement Manager) at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.

If you believe that your skills, experience and motivation make you a suitable candidate for this post, please complete the online application form by 08:00 on Monday 1 September 2025.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held no sooner than Monday 22 September in our Dundee office.

Downloads: 7066

How we deal with complaints about care

Published: 23 May 2024

Introduction

The Care Inspectorate is the independent scrutiny and improvement body for social care and social work across Scotland.

We regulate, inspect and support improvement of care services for the benefit of the people who use them. We aim to ensure that people receive safe, high-quality, compassionate care that meets their needs and promotes their rights and choices.

We have a statutory duty to deal with complaints made to us about registered care services and this procedure sets out how we do this. Anyone can complain to us about a care service, whoever they are. People who experience care services, care staff and members of the public all have a right to complain about the performance of the services we regulate.

We want this procedure to be:

  • Open: we want it to be easy for people to find and use. We offer it in different formats on request.
  • Transparent: it should tell you clearly what we will do when we receive information and what you can expect from us.
  • Risk-based: we will look at all the information we receive to assess the risks posed to people experiencing the service. This helps us decide what action we take to ensure the safety of people using services.
  • Focused on people’s experience: : we will identify what the outcomes are for people and how these can be improved. We will promote and support learning and improvement in services.

What is a complaint?

We define a complaint as:

‘An expression of dissatisfaction by a person receiving care or support from a registered care service or from one or more members of the public about the care and/or support of an individual or individuals by a registered care service.’

A complaint may relate to:

  • inadequate standards of care
  • failure to uphold the rights of a person using a service, or their relatives or carers
  • a care service’s failure to follow appropriate safe care practices
  • the practice of staff, including treatment by, or conduct of, a member of staff, fitness of staff, inadequate staff training and staff numbers or deployment

How we deal with complaints about care

We are not able to deal with, or investigate complaints that fall under the remit of other organisations such as:

  • we are not able to deal with complaints that fall under the remit of other organisations. 
  • a request for compensation
  • issues that are in court or have already been heard by a court or tribunal.
  • a complaint that has already been upheld by the care service and action taken to change/improve practice.
  • staff employment issues that are covered by contract, grievance and employment conditions.
  • allegations of discrimination, for example race or disability, prior to someone receiving care or support from a registered service. 
  • complaints about social work decisions or contracting with a care service.
  • an attempt to reopen a previously concluded complaint or to have a complaint reconsidered where we have already given our final decision.
  • child and adult protection issues – we will refer complaints of this nature to the relevant authority, such as social work agencies or the police.
  • criminal offences - we will refer complaints of this nature to the relevant authority, such as Police Scotland.

If your complaint is not part of our remit or is better dealt with by another organisation, we will let you know how you can get in touch with the relevant organisation.

Public protection and criminal acts

We have a duty to protect people and we will refer all complaints that we consider have an element of adult or child protection to the relevant social work agencies and/or Police Scotland. Where a complaint may relate to a criminal matter, for example, relating to a theft or an assault, we will refer this to Police Scotland to investigate.

We will let you know that we have referred the complaint but will not ask your permission to share the information. This is because we are legally obligated to share information relating to criminal offences and to public protection.

We will hold this compliant, but not progress the complaint, until the protection issues or criminal investigations have been assessed by the relevant organisations. If the other organisation is going to progress the concerns then we will close the complaint case. If the other organisation is not going to progress the complaint, we will progress the complaint through our resolution pathways.

Time limits for making a complaint

It is important that we investigate complaints as near to the time as possible when the issue arose. This is to allow us to access relevant information and assess the complaint. We will usually only take complaints where the issue arose no more than six months before the complaint is made.

The passage of time may prevent us holding a full and fair investigation. Even where you have given good reason for not raising matters sooner, we still consider the practicality of investigating long past incidents and providing a meaningful outcome, before we agree to progress the complaint.

Normally, we reserve the right to refuse to investigate after six months and instead use the information provided to inform our scrutiny and assurance work. However, we will consider complaints where there are exceptional circumstances which clearly explain your reasons for not raising the complaint within the six-month timescale. The decision on what meets exceptional circumstances will be for us to make and cannot be appealed.

Who can make a complaint?

Anyone can complain to us about a care service, whoever they are. People who experience care services, care staff, and members of the public all have a right to complain about the performance of the services we regulate.

Sometimes a person may be unable or reluctant to make a complaint on their own. You can make a complaint on someone else’s behalf when you confirm that they have given their personal consent or that you are acting as a personal advocate, guardian, or attorney. Where there is limited information about whether you have the person’s consent, or where it appears that you are not legally entitled to their personal information, we will not share their personal information with you, even if we accept the complaint.

When we can identify a complainant and have your name and address, we will contact you to discuss the complaint to make sure we have understood your concerns correctly and to update you on any progress and with the outcome of the complaint. We may also share your details with the care service you are complaining about if you agree to this.

Whistleblowing

Our organisation is a ‘prescribed person’ under The Public Interest Disclosure (prescribed Persons) Order 2014. This Act provides protection to workers that make disclosures in the public interest. This means that employees can raise issues of concern (disclosures) in confidence with us about the quality of care that is provided in services that are registered with us. We will use the information we received to improve the services we regulate, and we will protect the person’s identity throughout.

We are legally obligated to share information relating to criminal offences and to public protection. We cannot give advice about the legal protection offered to whistle-blowers. However, if you are an employee or a social work student and you are unsure about how to raise a concern in your workplace, guidance is available on our website. It explains the difference between raising a concern and whistleblowing, and when a person raising a concern qualifies for legal protection under whistleblowing law.

Research has evidenced that people can be reluctant to make complaints because they concerned about repercussion.  In order to support this, you can make complaints in the following ways. 

Complainant confidentiality

If you have told us who you are but you ask us to keep your identity confidential from the care service, we will respect your wishes wherever possible. We will not share your identity with the service without your consent. This option allows us to gather more information about the complaint to assist in our assessment of your complaint and any investigation. It also enables us to feedback directly to you on the findings from the complaint and any actions to support improvement. 

However, there will be exceptions to this. For example, where it appears that a criminal offence may have been committed or the issue you have raised with us is about adult or child protection, we will pass any relevant information to Police Scotland or social work to investigate in line with legislation and we will also pass on your details to them. We will make clear to the agencies that you have requested confidentiality.

If you choose to keep your identity confidential from the care service, this may limit what we can investigate if it may identify you. We will discuss this with you and support you to make some decisions about this.

Anonymous complainants

We take all complaints seriously. Anonymous concerns provide a valuable source of information about how well a service is operating.

You can choose to make your complaint anonymously.  However, being anonymous can limit our assessment or any investigation of the issues raised as we cannot clarify or verify information.  It also means we cannot feedback to you on the outcome of the assessment or investigation.  This includes you being able to contact us for further information on an anonymous complaint you have made. 

It is useful to have someone to discuss complaints made as described above, if possible, we would ask you are a confidential rather than an anonymous complainant. Your contact details, if you chose to make your complaint confidential, will not be shared with the service without your permission. 

Please note: if you choose to remain anonymous, we may share the care aspects of the complaint with the provider and/or service. This will only be if we have assessed the complaint as being suitable for resolution – logged as intelligence. We will not share any identifying factors from the details provided.

Making a complaint directly to the registered care service

Research evidence suggests that complaints are best resolved as close to the point of service delivery as possible. We will encourage you to raise your complaint with the care service in the first instance. All registered care services must have a complaints procedure and are required to record any complaint made by a person using, accessing, or visiting a care service.

Where you are happy to raise the matter directly with the care service, we will not investigate matters further at that time. However, we will record the detail of your contact with us. If you decide that you do not wish to raise your complaint directly with the care service, we may assess your complaint as being appropriate for the service to investigate. In these circumstances, we will let you know we have decided to refer the matter back to the care service and the reasons why.

Complaints involving more than one service

If a complaint relates to the action of two or more registered care services, we will address these separately and give you separate responses following any investigation we carry out at each service.

If the complaint involves another care service or agency that is not registered with us, we will advise you to contact the appropriate organisation directly. If we need to make enquiries relating to a complaint and that means talking to a service not registered with the Care Inspectorate, we will take account of confidentiality, data protection legislation and any relevant codes of practice.

Working with other regulators and public bodies

We work with several other regulators, including:

  • Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC)
  • Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
  • Education Scotland (formerly HM Inspectorate of Education)
  • Health and Safety Executive
  • Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS)
  • Local authorities
  • Police Scotland
  • Audit Scotland
  • Scottish Housing Regulator
  • Registrar of Independent Schools
  • Fire and Rescue Services
  • Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland
  • Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).

If you raise matters that are relevant to the regulatory function of other agencies or to our joint working activities, we may share this information. If we do this, we will let both you and the care service know and keep you informed. Where you raise matters about the competency of staff that must be registered with a professional body, we may redirect you to the appropriate professional regulatory body or make a referral to them ourselves.

Meeting your expectations

We investigate complaints in an independent, impartial, and fair way. We believe that complainants have a right to be heard, understood, and respected and we aim to be as open and accessible as we can.

Following our complaint investigations, we may make requirements to the care services about areas of practice which we expect them to improve. We may not always be able to meet your expectations of what you think the outcome should be. We will discuss with you the actions we can take.

While we appreciate that the cause of a complaint generates strong feelings, we may have to decide that we cannot help if your behaviour or action makes it difficult for us to deal with your complaint.

Examples include:

  • subjecting staff to behaviour that is aggressive, abusive, threatening, or unreasonable
  • persistent refusal to accept our decision about a complaint
  • persistent refusal to accept our explanations about what can or cannot be done about a complaint
  • continuing to pursue a complaint without presenting any new information
  • unreasonably frequent or persistent contact with Care Inspectorate staff.

We have policies and procedures for managing difficult behaviour experienced by our staff. We will work with people to resolve their complaint but where we have concerns about conduct, we will act. This may include allowing only one point of contact in the organisation or to only communicate by email or letter. We will discuss this with you and inform you of any action we will take.

We have a zero tolerance approach to any threatening or abusive behaviour towards our staff and will terminate contact with people who are abusive. We will only terminate contact when all other approaches to support communication have failed. If the contact is unreasonable, we will write to explain this and may terminate further contact.

How to make a complaint

Before we can fully consider your complaint, we must have enough information. When you first contact us, remember to tell us:

  • the name of the care service
  • the full names of people who are affected by the issue or concern
  • details of the incidents or concern which happened during the last six months
  • your full name, an email address and telephone number.

You can complain to us, providing the necessary information in several ways:

Write us a letter and post to:

Care Inspectorate
Compass House
11 Riverside Drive
Dundee
DD1 4NY

Send us an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Call our contact centre on 0345 600 9527 where you can give provide details of your complaint.

Speak to an inspector who you meet in the course of their work in a service. They will note your complaint and details and pass this on to be logged by our contact centre.

Complete the online complaints form available through careinspectorate.com

How children and young people can get in touch

We are committed to keeping The Promise and delivering our responsibilities as a corporate parent. If a child or young person is unhappy about the standard of care they are receiving, or want to talk to someone in confidence, they can now send us a text directly on 07870 981785.

What happens when you contact us

We will assess all complaints received. If we agree your concern is a complaint, we will begin our complaints procedure and within three working days, we will acknowledge your complaint. Following this a complaints inspector will determine the appropriate action. We will contact you at this stage to listen to you, discuss your complaint and ensure we have sufficient information to assess your complaint.

It is for us to determine if the information provided meets our complaint criteria, what elements of the complaint we will investigate, including how these are worded and the appropriate way of handling your complaint using our complaints pathways, shown on the following pages.

Our decision will be final and there is no right of appeal.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received, or you do not believe we have followed the correct process you may submit a complaint against us. This would be dealt with by our professional standards department. Our Procedure for handling complaints about the Care Inspectorate explains what to do if you are unhappy about the way we handled your complaint.

A complaints process that is proportionate and risk based

To respond in a proportionate way, we always assess the risks that a complaint presents so we can decide the right course of action. This ensures we identify, prioritise, and respond quickly to complaints that have caused, or have the potential to cause, negative outcomes for people relating to health, safety, and wellbeing. We have a risk assessment process that allows us to assess the risk identified by a complaint, considering what else we know about the service. This enables us to decide how we will proceed and what action we need to take to achieve the best outcome for people experiencing care.

Adult and child protection

We assess all complaints for any aspects that have any elements of adult and child protection. Any complaints that are assessed as adult or child protection concerns are referred to the lead agency, that can be Social Work Department and/or Police Scotland..

Assessment of risk and pathway action

Our risk assessment process helps us determine the appropriate action to resolve your complaint. There are four routes we can take.

1. We can use the information you have given us as intelligence about the service

We will treat the information you have given us as intelligence and pass it to the inspector responsible for regulating the service. This will help inform future scrutiny activity. Where we have logged the complaint as intelligence we will also inform the provider or service of the concerns in order for them to take any action they deem appropriate. We will take all steps to remove any identifying factors to your identity from the concerns

2. Direct service action – where we talk to the care service on your behalf

Where we assess your complaint as suitable for quick or immediate action, we use direct service action. We will contact the care service on your behalf and ask them to engage directly with you, take action and resolve your complaint. We will discuss this with you before making any contact with the care service.

3. Investigation by the care service provider

We may assess your complaint as appropriate for investigation via the provider’s complaint procedure. If this is the situation, we will ask the service provider to investigate your complaint and reply directly to you within 20 working days. The care service will also provide us with a copy of their response to you.

If you are unhappy with the way the service provider handles your complaint, you can ask us to reassess your complaint for further investigation. We will assess your complaint and decide on any action that may be appropriate.

4. Investigation by us

Not all complaints are suitable for direct service action or investigation by the care service. We use a risk assessment to decide if we will investigate your complaint. Our investigations aim to establish all the relevant facts and give you a full, objective, and proportionate response that includes whether we uphold your complaint.

Our investigating inspector will speak with you and discuss your complaint. They will then write to you to tell you about what areas we will investigate. The areas for investigation are called “heads of complaint.”

Our investigation will include:

  • writing to you to confirm the areas we will be investigating
  • contacting the care service to investigate your concerns
  • examining and assessing evidence, including documentation, and speaking to relevant people
  • writing to you with the outcome of investigation.

Investigation methods

Visits to care services to investigate complaints are usually unannounced which means the provider or service does not have prior notice. However, there may be times when it is appropriate for us to tell the service we are coming. If we do this, we will give no more than three days’ notice (a short notice announced visit).

We use video calls to engage with care providers, staff, people receiving care and families. Video calls are now a regular means of communication along with telephone call and site visits.

We will not tell the care service in advance what the complaint is about or tell them who has complained. We will share this information with them on the day the investigation starts if the complainant is anonymous or has requested to be a confidential complainant, we will not share any identifying factors.

Investigation outcomes

There are two possible outcomes when we investigate a complaint.

Upheld

We say a complaint is upheld where we investigate and find evidence that the cause of the complaint is valid and true. When we have upheld a complaint; we may take action. We will tell both you and the care service about requirements or areas for improvement we expect as a direct result of your complaint.

We will require the care service to provide us with an action plan that details how they will improve outcomes for the people who use their service. We may also re-evaluate the grade awarded to a service following a complaint.

Not upheld

We say a complaint is not upheld where we have investigated and find a lack of evidence to validate the complaint.

Investigation timescales

The following timescales will apply to cases at the investigation stage.

  • We aim to contact you within 10 working days to tell you what we will be investigating.
  • We aim to give you a full response as soon as possible but no later than 40 working days from the time we have decide we can investigate.

Extension to the timescale

Sometimes, we may not be able to meet the timescale. For example, some complaints are so complex that the level of consideration and investigation they need takes us beyond the 40-day limit.

If there are clear and justifiable reasons for extending the timescale, we will tell you the reason for the delay and give you a revised date for completion.

When our investigation is finished

We will call you to let you know the outcome of our investigation and that we will be sending you a complaint report.

The complaint report

We will issue a report to the complainant and complained against, which will detail the:

  • elements/areas of the complaint
  • action we took to investigate
  • evidence to uphold
  • evidence to not uphold
  • conclusion
  • any areas for improvement that we have identified
  • any action the service must take (Requirements).

We will send the complaint report to both the complainant and the complained against at the same time.

Post investigation review

If you believe we have made a mistake in our findings and have come to the wrong conclusion, you can ask for a post investigation review.

You can ask for a post investigation review if you consider that:

  • we made our decision based on important evidence that was inaccurate and you can show this using readily available information
  • you have new and relevant information that was not previously available about the complaint we investigated, and which affects the decision we made.

If you have new information that changes the focus of the complaint we investigated or introduces a new part to the complaint, we may need to start a new investigation.

Whether it is the complainant or the complained against who asks for a post investigation review, we will let both parties know we have received a request and the outcome.

Time limits and timescales for post investigation reviews

If you do not agree with the complaint report, you have 10 working days from receiving it to ask us for a post investigation review. This timescale applies to both parties, and we will wait until the 10 working days are up before deciding whether to carry out a post investigation review.

When we receive your request, an inspector will contact you within five working days to confirm we received it.

Once the 10 working days are up, we will look at your request and review it along with the evidence we have gathered.

We will decide whether to:

  • investigate further
  • update the report to reflect comments received
  • update the outcomes of the complaint
  • make no further changes to the report.

We will write to you to explain the outcome of the review and the decision we have reached. If the complaint has changed, we will issue an amended complaint report and if no changes are made, we will confirm the report you received as final. We aim to do this within 20 working days of the end period for submission of the post investigation response.

Once we have concluded our review and informed you of our final position there is no appeal or review of the complaint outcome.

Downloads: 7021

Information Governance Lead

Published: 02 March 2018

Job title: Information Governance Lead

Salary: £55,530 to 61,314

Hours: 35 hours per week

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Contract: Permanent


About us

We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services, and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards the expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week.

About the role

We are looking for a talented and experienced person to provide leadership in information governance and assurance, both internally and externally, ensuring our data protection, records management and wider information governance work is of high quality.

The post holder will provide the Care Inspectorate with leadership in information governance and assurance, internally & externally. They will be the prime source of expert advice and policy development, to create and maintain high level awareness, profile and understanding of the strategic and operational importance of information governance.

About you

You will play a key role in ensuring that the Care Inspectorate meets its statutory and legal obligations and be the prime source of expert advice and policy development to create and maintain high level awareness, profile and understanding of the strategic and operational importance of information governance. You will be capable of acting as a Data Protection Officer as defined under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) 2018 and Data Protection Act 2018.

You will be responsible for overseeing important change programmes in how we manage, use and share information. We need applicants who are ambitious and motivated with a “can do” attitude.

You will be able to demonstrate considerable working experience in Information Governance. You will have excellent communication skills and an ability to engage with and understand the information needs of different audience types.

You’ll be able to support, develop and line manage staff, and have experience in data analysis, interpretation and management reporting.

We would welcome someone qualified as a solicitor, but that’s certainly not essential: your core skill may be in data protection or records management. Either way, you will have a detailed understanding of the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation, Freedom of Information Act and other information-related legislation and regulations, with practical experience of helping organisations meet these requirements.

You will have the ability to liaise with internal groups, external partners and system suppliers to ensure IG requirements of projects, information systems and day-to-day operations are met.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Ewan Stewart at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please download and complete an application form and submit it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 08:00 on Monday 29 July 2024.

Please also complete the equal opportunities form and submit along with your application.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held in person at our Dundee Office during week of 12 August 2024.

Downloads: 6865

Communications Coordinator

Published: 10 April 2024

Role: Communications Coordinator

Location: Flexible (any Care Inspectorate office)

Hours: 30 hours per week

Salary: £33,369.42 – £36,869.14 per annum

(pro-rata, £38,931 – £43,014 FTE based on 30 hours per week)

Contract: Temporary until 31 March 2026


About us

We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. Our hybrid working policy gives you the flexibility to mix working from home with attendance at your base office and other work locations, spending no more than 60% of your working time working from home, measured over a 4-week period.

About the role

We are offering an excellent opportunity for an energetic and creative communications coordinator to join our external communications team at the Care Inspectorate. You will be a key member of our team, providing a wide range of skills, experience, knowledge and advice to contribute to the development, delivery and success of the Care Inspectorate’s external communications function. This role will have a focus on developing communications to support the promotion of the new shared inspection framework for the early learning and childcare sectors.

About you

Educated to degree level or equivalent (SCQF Level 9), you will have a successful track record in communications with significant experience delivering a wide range of creative solutions across the broad spectrum of communication channels.

You will be highly motivated and enthusiastic with excellent interpersonal skills along with the ability to react to changing priorities and conflicting demands while building effective working relationships.

To apply

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Vanessa O’Loughlin, Communications Manager at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.

If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please complete the online application form by no later than by 08:00 on Monday 19 May 2025. 

It is anticipated that interviews will take place from 2 June 2025 at our Dundee office.

Downloads: 6850

Strategic Data Officer

Published: 23 April 2021

Job title: Strategic Data Officer

Salary: £30,495 – £31,740

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Contract: Temporary until 31st July 2025


About us

We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.

We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.

Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. Our hybrid working policy gives you the flexibility to mix working from home with attendance at your base office and other work locations, spending no more than 60% of your working time working from home, measured over a 4-week period.

Starting salary

Please bear in mind that new entrants start on the grade minimum for the role. However, we have a generous benefits package which you will find on our website.

About the role

This is a national role and an exciting opportunity for a motivated and enthusiastic individual to use their current IT skills and develop new analytical and data skills to make a real difference for people experiencing care across Scotland. You will support the Intelligence team in delivering key analytical support to our strategic inspection programmes, working closely with a multi-disciplinary team of Care Inspectorate colleagues and those from external agencies.

You will support the Intelligence team in providing an analytical function throughout the inspection process through the improvement and maintenance of data collection tools and by identifying and summarising key inspection findings and preparing accurate statistical reports for a range of internal and external audiences.

About you

You should be educated to SCQF level 7.

The Intelligence Team will offer training and support for the specialist software and skills required for this role. However, you will need to be confident working with raw data and comfortable working with Microsoft Excel. The successful candidate will pay close attention to detail in order to clean and validate data and identify opportunities to improve data quality.

As well as having good literacy skills, you will have an aptitude for working with facts and figures to a high degree of accuracy. Excellent IT skills are a pre-requisite, enabling you to present complex information in a meaningful way.

You will be expected to work with colleagues across the Care Inspectorate and other external organisations, and so must have excellent interpersonal skills and be prepared to develop a sound understanding of the inspection data to respond effectively to the requirements of the role.

Next steps

You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.

For an informal discussion about the above posts, please contact Francesca Colaco by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you believe that your skills, experience and motivation make you a suitable candidate for this post, please complete the online application form by 08:00 on Monday 9 December 2024. CVs will not be accepted.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held Wednesday 18 December 2024 at our Dundee office.

Downloads: 6822

Subcategories

The early learning and childcare expansion… 

Role: Inspector - Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)

Location: Forth Valley, Borders, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh & Glasgow

Salary: £31,083 - £39,069 plus excellent benefits

Hours: 140 hours to be worked over a 4-week period

Contract: Permanent or 2-year secondment (would be considered)

Join us and make a difference – for you, for everyone

It’s our job to ensure care for everyone, everywhere in Scotland is as good as it can be. If you are as passionate about high-quality care as we are, and you’re experienced in your field, we’d love to hear from you.

About us

As a national scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect care services and partnerships across Scotland, report on the quality of care people experience, and support improvements in services to facilitate improvements in outcomes for people.

We inspect care services individually. We also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in local areas.

We champion high-quality care whenever we encounter it across the thousands of inspections, we carry out each year, and we work closely with all care providers to support them to improve all the time. We collaborate with other organisations too, supporting improvement across public services. Our work plays a big role in reducing health and social inequalities between people and communities.

We are looking for talented people to join us in making a difference - specialists who understand how to put people’s needs, rights and choices at the heart of delivering social services – and how to lead improvement too. Our 600 staff work with services across the public, voluntary and private sectors. We have offices across Scotland and many of our staff work from home.

About you

Whether early or established in your career, you will share our determination that care, social work and justice services should work well for people – every time. You’ll be confident about what good-quality care looks like and how to deliver it. You’ll be good at analysing information and evidence. You will have excellent writing skills for narrative inspection reports that are clear, concise and focused on outcomes. You will be confident in working with a wide range of people and at supporting and advising on improvement.

You’ll currently be working, or have significant experience in, social care, social work, health, children’s services, early learning, child protection, or community learning and development. You will be registered or eligible to register with a professional body like the SSSC, NMC or GTC.

About the role

Our care inspectors work with care services: childminders, nurseries, care homes, care at home, housing support and a host of other specialist services. A specialist in your field, you may have helped lead a service and have a strong track record in delivering quality. You’ll be adept at leading improvement and influencing others. You will work with people experiencing care, and care service providers, managers and staff.

Why join us?

We strive to be a great employer, knowing that competitive salary, leave and pension schemes are only part of that. We pride ourselves on the values we hold, person-centred; fairness; respect; efficiency and integrity - all supported with a culture of care and kindness.

We believe in collective leadership and innovation. You’ll have a lot of autonomy to manage your own work and use the professional skills you’ve honed during your career – but in new ways. Starting on day one, our learning and development support will help you become confident in the craft of scrutiny and in supporting improvement. Because a lot of your role is about sharing effective practice across Scotland, the impact you can have on experiences and outcomes for people is significant. You will draw on management and leadership skills you’ve developed in the past.

We’re proud to be a progressive, supportive employer – we’re happy to talk about flexible working with you and we’re members of the Disability Confident Scheme, aiming to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace.

New appointments will normally be placed on the minimum grade for the role; a higher starting salary may be offered in exceptional circumstances only.

ELC expansion

The Scottish Government is committed to expanding the provision of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from 600 hours to 1140 hours per year by 2020. The expansion of ELC is aimed to support the reduction in the poverty-related attainment gap and improve long term outcomes for children and families.

Due to the ELC expansion programme we are looking for 7 further ELC Inspectors in addition to the “business as usual” Inspector campaign launched recently.

Principles and aims

The priority for the expansion to 1140 hours is to improve children's outcomes and close the poverty-related attainment gap. In addition, the expansion aims to support parents into work, study or training. The Scottish Government's four principles of the ELC expansion are: quality, flexibility, affordability, and accessibility.

The Scottish Government has stated that quality is 'at the heart' of the expansion and that achieving a high-quality ELC experience for children is a key objective.

Use and provision

A 2018 survey found that the main reason why parents use funded ELC is that they consider it beneficial for their child's learning and development. In addition, parents reported using the funded hours to either work, increase the number of hours they work, or look for work.

Funded ELC in Scotland is delivered by a wide range of providers including nurseries, crèches and playgroups, from across the public, private and third sectors. A small number of childminders also deliver funded ELC, but the Scottish Government hopes this number will increase under the expansion to 1140 hours.

Criteria to apply

  • We require you to hold a relevant qualification (minimum SCQF Level 9), register with either the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) or any other relevant professional body and undertake PVG checks.
  • You must also be prepared to do a Professional Development Award in Scrutiny and Improvement (Social Services) at SCQF level 10 with appropriate support from the organisation.
  • You will have a minimum of three years recent and demonstrable management experience in a relevant field. You must also be willing to travel with overnight stays as required.

Before you apply

  • Please contact the relevant body directly to resolve any queries you have regarding registration or eligible qualifications for registration (SSSC, NMC and so on) before submitting your application.
  • For an informal chat about the job role, please contact (Who?) You or Kim Connolly, Team Manager on 07766133161
  • For all other queries, please contact Human Resources at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

To apply

  • If you are interested, please see the minimum criteria to apply as an Inspector and the specific guidance and directions to apply. Thereafter, click on the gateway questions link to apply.
  • Your completed application form (campaign number C39 only forms) and equal opportunities form should be returned to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.no later than Monday, 14 October 2019 at 8.00am.
  • We anticipate that selection days will take place in the week commencing Monday, 18 November 2019.