Update - January 2024
What we have done since our last briefing in September 2023
We have been working alongside the four areas that came forward to be part of more detailed work.
- Aberdeen city
- Dundee city
- Dumfries and Galloway
- Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)
We now have staff survey responses from these four areas. We have reviewed these alongside all the evidence we gathered earlier this year from the national survey and our review of existing literature.
This has helped us develop our understanding of social work’s contribution to upholding the rights of disabled children and young people in Scotland.
We have used our findings so far to help us plan our next steps and inform the key questions we will ask children, families and staff.
Our stakeholder community has continued to be involved, helping to shape our approach to engagement activities.
Planning for our next steps is well underway in the four areas and we are grateful for all the time and effort they have already given to this review.
Next steps
We are now entering the busiest stage of our review and will be working with our four areas on the following.
In January we will be reviewing 30 children’s social work’s records in each of the areas. This will help us build our understanding of the effectiveness of assessments, plans and reviews in ensuring children benefit from the right help and the right time. These records have been sampled randomly.
In January we will ask each of the four areas to share a video and information leaflet with children and their parents or carers to inform them of our review and invite them to become involved.
Between 22 January and 29 February we will open an electronic questionnaire for children and young people to complete online. This will be one of a range of ways we will gather views directly from children and young people. The arrangements for completing the questionnaire will be shared by each of the four local authorities.
In February we will be on-site in each of the four areas. We want to gather the views of children and their parents or carers and the staff who work with them. We will meet with children wherever they are most comfortable. For some children this might be with friends or family. For others it might be alongside workers who are important to them. We hope the important people in children’s lives will help us to do this. We will work alongside staff in each of the four areas to ensure we are inclusive and respect children’s rights in our approach.
If you have any questions for the review team, they can be contacted via email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
We’d like to thank everyone who has been involved in this review.
Temporary changes to variations during Covid-19
Variation changes for care homes and care at home extended to April 2023
Social care continues to face challenges as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and we continue to support the care sector by adapting what we do, when needed.
To support services to provide support to a wider group of people, there will continue to be no requirement for providers to submit a variation for any care service type where:
- a care home for older people is caring for youngeradults or vice versa
- care at home services care for clients with different careneeds
- there is a change of operationalhours.
This will continue until April 2023.
In these circumstances, there is no requirement to submit a variation form. Instead, you should simply confirm in writing through eForms, using the notification ‘Changes to service delivery’.
Within the notification, you should note what the change is and confirm the service can meet people’s care and welfare needs.
The notification will not trigger an inspection but may trigger contact from the inspector to discuss the changes you have put in place.
For care homes that are supporting people on an interim basis until care at home is available in their area, there is no requirement to notify the Care Inspectorate. We will get this information from the oversight teams of homes being used in local areas.
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Information for young people and families
Who is this information for?
This information is for young people and their family members who have agreed to speak to us or complete a survey as part of our review of services for care experienced young people. Where we talk about young people we are talking about those who are care experienced. This term includes all categories of care as young people approach adulthood and are being supported to either move on or continue to be cared for in a place of their choice.
What is this review about?
The purpose of the review is to find out how services are supporting young people when they are leaving care and ensuring that their rights are being upheld. These services are helping young people when they are making plans for leaving care and after they have moved on. They may be supporting you with housing, with your health or in relation to education or employment. A team from the Care Inspectorate are carrying out this review and we want to hear from people with recent lived experience of leaving care.
Why have I been asked for my views?
People who work with you feel that you could make a valuable contribution to the review. We want to listen to your views about whether you have received the help you need and any difference this has made to your life. Hearing the views and opinions of young people and family members is the most important part of our review.
Do I have to take part?
No, taking part in the review is not compulsory. We strongly recommend that you chat with a keyworker, your social worker, or any other trusted adult before consenting.
How will I share my views with the review team?
If you agree to take part in the review there are two ways in which you may have been invited to share your views: directly with a member of the review team or by completing a survey. In both we will be asking questions to help us fully understand your experience, whether you received the support you needed and the impact of any support received.
Sharing your views directly with a member of the team
If this is the way you have been asked to take part arrangements will be made for a member of the review team to meet you at a time and in a place which suits you. This can be done in person, or we can arrange an online meeting or a phone call. You can be supported by people you know if this is your preference. The questions we will be asking you, have been developed in consultation with care experienced young people.
Completing a survey (young people only)
This will be shared with you by a worker who knows you and they will ensure that you have the help you need to complete the survey and we would encourage you to speak with them if completing the survey raises any issues for you. Your response is anonymous. Care experienced young people were involved in designing the survey. You can change your mind and end the meeting or stop the survey at any time.
What will I be asked about?
We will ask you about your views about any support and help that you have had. We want to know about whether you have been involved in decisions that affect you and your family. We also want to ask you about how your rights have been respected. We will not ask you to share your personal information with us.
What will you do with the things I tell you?
- We will use what you say to help us work out what services are doing well and what needs to change.
- What you say to us is private and we won’t use your name or identify you or share any of your personal details.
- The only time we will tell others about something you say is if we are worried for your safety or the safety of someone else.
- We will take some notes during the interview. These notes will not contain personal information and we will not share these notes with others. We will store our notes securely and destroy them at the end of the review.
- We have rules about how we keep your information private. You can find our core privacy notice here. We will write a report in November 2024 and we will have other ways of sharing what services are doing well and what needs improve.
Where can I find out more information?
You can find out more information from our webpage. If you have any questions about taking part please speak to the person who gave you this form.
Thank you for taking part in our review.
You can download the information on this page in PDF format here.
Joint inspections of adult support and protection
Background
Phase 1 of our programme of joint inspections of adult support and protection took place during 2020-2023. Twenty-five joint inspections were carried out, and individual partnership reports were published. An overview, summarising the findings in these reports was also published, and is available here. This shaped our subsequent phase 2 approach.
Phase 2
In June 2023, the Scottish Government asked the Care Inspectorate to lead further joint inspection work with our inspection partners including, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland. This commenced on 1 August 2023 and is scheduled to conclude in July 2025, and blends scrutiny activity with improvement support. There has been close collaboration with adult protection partnerships throughout.
The programme provides assurance on the quality of adult support and protection services in Scotland and promotes improvement activity through the development of a quality indicator framework and supported self-evaluation. Phase 2 of the programme comprises four workstreams.
Workstream 1
The joint inspection of the six adult support and protection partnerships first inspected in 2017.
The first year of our phase 2 programme included reviewing the progress of the six adult protection partnerships that were subject to adult support and protection inspections in 2017/18. The joint inspection team used the inspection methodology employed in Phase 1. These inspections focused on key processes and strategic leadership.
This programme of inspections was completed in May 2024 and included the North Ayrshire, Highland, Dundee, Aberdeenshire, East Dunbartonshire and Midlothian partnerships. Individual reports of the inspections have been published and can be accessed using the links above.
A joint inspection of adult support and protection overview report took account of the key findings from these six reports. This was published and can be accessed here.
Workstream 2
Development of a multi-agency quality improvement framework (QIF) for adult support and protection partnerships in Scotland.
Design of the QIF was undertaken in collaboration with The Scottish Government National Implementation Group self-evaluation subgroup. Four consultation workshop events took place, to which representatives from all health and social care partnerships across Scotland were invited. This included events in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dundee, as well as one online session. These were held to provide an opportunity for the sector to comment on, refine, and enhance the draft framework. The sessions were attended by approximately eighty-four delegates representing almost all Health and Social Care Partnerships and the feedback gathered was then used to inform the final document.
- A working group was established that included joint inspection partners and representation from the national implementation group.
- The working group took careful consideration of the views from people with lived experience to ensure it was trauma informed.
- A communication plan was designed and implemented and four well attended engagement sessions were arranged
- The joint inspection team undertook a ‘you said, we did’ exercise with the national implementation self-evaluation subgroup to review the key themes from the four engagement sessions. We refined the QIF following their feedback.
- The QIF was published on 15 October and can be accessed here.
- This document will be promoted widely across the sector after its launch at a series of national events.
- This includes a formal launch at the Aspire event that took place on 28 November 2024
- This framework will support partnerships multi-agency self-evaluation of their adult support and protection arrangements and is designed to lead to improvement in services.
Workstream 3
This review of progress activity provides assurance of improvement in those partnerships where areas of weakness outweighed strengths in phase 1. This programme involves the South Ayrshire, Moray, West Lothian, Edinburgh, Orkney, and Western Isles partnerships.
Our file reading tool had previously been updated to reflect the changes in methodology and take account of the Scottish Government revised code of practice for adult support and protection (July 2022).
Completed workstream 3 progress reviews include South Ayrshire, West Lothian, Edinburgh and Moray. Individual reports will be published in due course for all six partnerships.
In these progress reviews we are using the following evaluations to measure progress.
Minimal progress: Improvement is minimal. The partnership’s overall approach to improvement is not comprehensive or put into practice. Its deployment and implementation are limited. It has not embedded improvements or they are still at the planning stage. It does not communicate improvements effectively and they are not well understood by staff. It does not assess and review the effectiveness of its improvement progress.
Some progress: Evidence of some improvement. The partnership’s approach to improvement is moderate. Its implementation and deployment of improvements are structured. It is beginning to embed improvements in practice. It communicates improvements partially and staff understand them reasonably well. It has limited measures to evaluate and review impact and outcomes for adults at risk of harm. It periodically assesses and reviews its improvement methodology.
Significant progress: Significant improvement. The partnership’s approach to improvement is comprehensive and embedded. Its deployment of improvements is well structured, implemented and effective. It communicates improvements purposefully, and staff understand them fully. It has effective measures to evaluate and review impact and outcomes for adults at risk of harm. It continually assesses and refines its improvement methodology.
The joint inspection team will also be re-visiting the Renfrewshire partnership to complete their phase 1 inspection that was interrupted by Covid-19 restrictions coming into force in March 2020.
Workstream 4
The joint inspection of adult support and protection team aims to work with volunteer partnerships, using the quality improvement framework developed in workstream 2, to undertake a programme of supported self-evaluation. Our focus will be on quality illustration 5.7 and those cases where it is difficult to determine the three-point criteria. During phase 1 activity some partnerships had promising initiatives aimed at developing their early intervention, prevention, and trauma informed approaches to this complex group of adults at risk of harm. We will work jointly with partnerships to assess the strengths of these initiatives.
This is an opportunity for partnerships to work alongside the joint inspection team to develop and implement the methodology. We will share learning and promote a deeper understanding about self-evaluation approaches and its impact on improvement work.
We have invited all adult support and protection partnerships to formally express a confirmed interest in this opportunity week commencing Monday 11 November 2024. We will look to confirm the partnerships selected prior to the end of December 2024 and commence work with them in January 2025.
A communication and engagement plan will be put in place once we have identified the partnerships we will be working with.
Related links:
Learning reviews
The Care Inspectorate, on behalf of the Scottish Government, acts as a central repository for all learning reviews carried out by child protection, adult protection and public protection committees in Scotland.
As part of our general duty of furthering improvement in the quality of social services, the Care Inspectorate is responsible for reviewing the effectiveness of the processes for each learning review and providing observations to individual chief officer groups and protection committees. This forms part of the Care Inspectorate’s improvement remit. The key aim in relation to learning reviews is to assist the sector in its continual development and improvement of the learning review approach.
National Guidance for Adult Protection Committees; Undertaking Learning Reviews was published in May 2022. The revised National Guidance for Child Protection Committees for Undertaking Learning Reviews was published in 2024. Both guidance documents clearly set out that adult and child protection committees should inform the Care Inspectorate of two things. Firstly, the decision about whether they are proceeding with a learning review and if not, the reasons for not doing so. Secondly, the outcome of the learning review, including an anonymised copy of the review report which should be sent to us.
For all situations considered under learning review guidance, a decision notification form should be completed. This electronic notification form should be completed at the point when a decision has been made whether to conduct a learning review, or to detail the reasons for not doing so. Committees are required to notify the Care Inspectorate of their decision to proceed, or not to proceed, to learning review using the learning review notification forms below.
In circumstances where protection committees agree to carry out an alternative review approach for learning they should submit anonymised completed reports or minutes that record learning and recommendations to the Care Inspectorate via secure e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This will enable the Care Inspectorate to use the learning from these alternative approaches to inform the content of annual national overview reports. The Care Inspectorate will not provide observations to partnerships on these types of submissions.
Submission of learning review reports
Please submit the full learning review report via secure email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Any queries can also be directed to this address.