Our customer service

Published: 25 October 2018

The strategy and the associated internal and external customer service standards show how we will embed a customer focus across all of our work, including redesigning the way we engage with people and how we build internal and external relationships. The aims of the strategy are to ensure an inclusive approach to providing quality services to our customers and colleagues. 

Customer Service Strategy 

Internal Customer Service Standards 

External Customer Service Standards

Downloads: 11143

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: 6038

Planning Coordinator

Published: 09 November 2017

Role: Planning Coordinator

Salary: £31,938 - £35,328

Hours: 35 hours per week

Location: Flexible – Any Care Inspectorate office across Scotland

Contract: Temporary for 12 months (potential for further extension)


About the role

The Care Inspectorate's role is to regulate and inspect care and support services, carry out scrutiny of social work services and conduct joint inspections with other scrutiny partners of services for adults and children. We have a significant role in providing assurance and protection for people who use services, their families and carers and the wider public as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland.

In this demanding and challenging role you will manage and co-ordinate the delivery of national inspection planning across a wide range of social care services and services for children and adults. This role ensures that the Care Inspectorate makes the best use of its resources and performs effectively and efficiently as an independent scrutiny and improvement body. This will include the management, co-ordination and delivery of scrutiny and improvement planning activities and plans for the current year. As well as draft plans for subsequent years, ensuring inspection planning activities are consistent with the Care Inspectorate’s objectives and targets.

About you

You will have a strong operational background in planning activities, together with workload planning, prioritisation and allocation experience.

You will be educated to SCQF level 7 (e.g., Advanced Higher, Higher National Certificate (HNC), Professional Development Award, Certificate of Higher Education, Modern Apprenticeship, SVQ, etc.) or have relevant skills and experience in planning coordination.

You will also have supervisory experience and demonstrate a broad level of knowledge of working within inspection/regulation of care and associated IT systems. In addition, you will have excellent communication skills and the ability to translate plans into action.

Next steps

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

For an informal discussion about the above post, please contact Deborah Holroyd, Head of Business Change 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 download and complete an application form and an equal opportunities 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 April 2024.

It is anticipated that the assessment for this post will be held in person around 8 May 2024. The assessment will be a competency based interview and a skills exercise. 

Downloads: 6211

Customer Support Adviser

Published: 06 September 2017

Role: Customer Support Adviser

Salary: £30,495 - £31,740 

Hours: 35 hours per week

Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)

Contract: Temporary until 30 April 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. 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.

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

Due a member of the team going on secondment, we are looking for a Customer Support Adviser to join our team. As a member of the Customer Support team, you will answer incoming calls to the organisation, respond to enquiries and questions, pass callers on to appropriate colleagues when necessary, provide information and undertake general administrative and clerical tasks to support the contact centre team.  You will be flexible to support the overall contact centre approach and strive for excellence in this area of business. 

About you

You will have an excellent understanding of customer service practice with good verbal communication techniques.  You will be able to draw out and gather the correct information and gain confidence from callers, leaving every calling customer with a sense of efficient service and being valued. In addition, you must have good IT skills, be able to work to tight deadlines in an organised manner and be able to work effectively as part of a team.

To apply

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

If you would like more information or an informal discussion, please contact Angela Kerr, Customer Support Officer, on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

If you believe that your expertise and motivation make you suitable for this post, please download and complete an application form (and our online equal opportunities form) and return by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by no later than 8am on Monday 16 September 2024.

It is anticipated that interviews will take place no sooner than 4 October 2024.

Downloads: 14204

Equality impact assessments

Published: 16 December 2015

Equality impact assessments 

As a public body, we are required to assess the equality impact of applying policies, practices, systems and processes. The purpose is to improve outcomes for those who may experience discrimination and disadvantage. This is often referred to as equality impact assessment.

Details of our completed equality impact assessments can be found below.

2024

2023

2022


2021


Pre 2021

All equality impact assessments pre 2021 can be found here

 

Downloads: 23129

Our Executive Team

Published: 20 February 2015

Our Executive Team is responsible for the management and strategic leadership of the Care Inspectorate.  

SLT image for web and intranet Oct22

Jackie Irvine, Chief Executive

Jackie qualified in Scotland before starting her career in London, moving back to Scotland in 1991. 

Jackie has been a Chief Social Work Officer for over 10 years and comes to the Care Inspectorate from her current post as Service Director, Children and Families and Justice Services within the City of Edinburgh Council. 

Jackie has over 30 years’ experience of working in the public sector and has also managed community health services for children. 

Edith Macintosh, Executive Director of Strategy and Improvement

Edith was appointed as Executive Director of Strategy and Improvement in August 2020 after acting in the role as an interim from December 2018.

Edith qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1983 and worked across health and social care holding a variety of roles across Scotland predominantly in the NHS and latterly was service manager for Occupational Therapy services in the NHS in Perth and Kinross until 2009.  From there she joined the Care Inspectorate (then Care Commission) in September 2009 as the Rehabilitation Consultant and provided leadership and improvement expertise for several national initiatives and publications to support providers and partnerships to improve health and wellbeing in the social care sector. 

Edith was in her previous role as Head of Improvement Support since January 2017 and had strategic oversight for developing and strengthening the Care Inspectorate’s improvement support role across Scotland supported by a team of improvement advisors.  She designed the CAPA improvement programme and was the programme lead.  Edith’s great passion is to inspire people and services to improve, realise their full potential and to make a positive difference to the lives of others.

Follow Edith on Twitter @EAMacahp

Kevin Mitchell, Executive Director of Scrutiny and Assurance 

Kevin was appointed Executive Director of the Care Inspectorate’s Scrutiny and Assurance Directorate in February 2016 and led the directorate’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He has lead responsibility for all the regulated care service inspections (children and adults) and the complaints and registration functions.  He also has lead responsibility for the strategic scrutiny of services for children, justice and protection as well the joint inspections of integrated health and care services and services for adults.

Kevin joined the Care Inspectorate in 2011 from the then Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) having been involved in the programme of joint inspections of child protection from 2005.  He was appointed Head of Analysis and Business Planning at the Care Inspectorate in March 2013 and Acting Deputy Director of Inspection (Children's Services & Criminal Justice) in January 2015.

Kevin was previously a senior detective officer in Lothian and Borders police and graduated MSc in Advanced Practice Child Protection from Edinburgh Napier University in June 2014.

Follow Kevin on Twitter @CIKevinMitchell

Jacqueline Mackenzie, Executive Director of Corporate and Customer Services

Jacqueline was appointed as Executive Director for Corporate and Customer Services in November 2020.

Jacqueline has a BA in Accountancy and Business Law from the University of Stirling and is a graduate member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland with extensive experience of leadership and strategic management having held a variety of roles in both the public and private sectors.

She has excellent experience in financial and resource management, change management and team building. Jacqueline is skilled at understanding complex organisations and providing the leadership and influencing skills to motivate staff across functions and disciplines to work together to achieve the strategic goals.

Gordon Mackie, Executive Director of IT & Digital Transformation

Gordon was appointed as Executive Director of IT & Digital Transformation in July 2021 after acting in the role as interim from April 2020.

As an experienced IT & transformation leader with a wealth of experience and a sustained record of success across diverse sectors both in the public and commercial environments. 

Gordon boasts a wealth of exposure within aligning technology to business strategies; leading specialist teams and delivering complex, full-cycle business change, transition and transformation projects.  Adept at building and maintaining key relationships at all levels, including clients, stakeholders and suppliers; effectively translating requirements and overseeing all issues through to completion.  Well versed in managing the end-to-end delivery of complex projects across conflicting programmes and proven ability to drive businesses forward.  Experienced in engaging and communicating with relevant internal and external stakeholders, inclusive of C-Level management in all programmes of work.  Both a team player and an independent thinker, with valuable problem solving and decision-making skills and the ability to coordinate with senior leaders to ensure needs are identified and fully addressed. 

Downloads: 60132

Our Board

Published: 20 February 2015

The Chair and the members of our board set the strategic direction of the Care Inspectorate, taking into account legislation and policy guidance set by the Scottish Government. Each member of the Board brings a wealth of experience and wide-ranging skills, along with a passionate interest in social care. Read our Board members biographies below.

Board image for web and intranet Jun 23 new

The Care Inspectorate has an Audit and Risk Committee which supports the Board in its responsibilities for issues of risk, control and governance and associated assurance through a process of constructive challenge.  The Committee meetings are not held in public, but papers can be viewed here

Our public Board meetings are held at least four times a year and members of the public are welcome to join us at these meetings.

You can download a copy of the papers from our Board meetings here. The minutes of Board and Committee meetings do not appear within the published papers until after they have been approved.

Our Board meeting dates for 2024/25 are:

  • 9 May 2024
  • 15 August 2024
  • 14 November 2024
  • 13 February 2025
  • 27 March 2025

All meetings run from 10:30-13:00.

The meeting is open to members of the public to join, as observers only, via Microsoft Teams video-conference.  In order to enable members of the public to join for the public business of the meeting, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. no later than seven calendar days prior to the date of the meeting. 

In this event, in providing your email address you are consenting for us to use your contact details to invite you to the Teams meeting for the duration of the Board proceedings that are being held in public. 

Please note that members of the public and representatives of the press who attend a meeting of the Care Inspectorate Board will do so in an observer-only capacity, and may not participate in the meeting unless invited to do so by the Chair. 

If you do not have a Microsoft Teams account, you can find instructions on how to join here. Papers for our Board meetings will normally be published seven days in advance of the date of the meeting and will be available to view here.

Minutes of meetings of the Audit and Risk Committee, being a sub-committee of the Board, can be found incorporated within the Board papers.

Read the Board’s Code of Conduct and the register of members interests 2024.

Biographies

Doug Moodie, Chair

Doug Moodie has Chaired the Board of the Care Inspectorate since 1 September 2022.

Doug is currently a Chair of Falkirk Children’s Panel, Chair of HELM in Dundee who provide support, learning, and guidance to over two hundred care experienced young people, Chair of Clackmannanshire Business Improvement District (BID), and a Director/Treasurer of Home Start (Clacks) who received a Queen’s Award in 2022 for service to many families needing their help and support across the local community.

You can find out more about Doug here.

Sandra Campbell

Sandra was appointed as Convener of the Scottish Social Services Council in September 2019. She has over 40 years’ experience in the public sector, both in Scotland and England, holding senior management posts. Sandra is a qualified social worker and has a keen interest in services for looked after children. Her first experience of social care was working for Dundee Cyrenians in the homeless shelter which shaped her future career choice. She has also worked with health services in Highland and in Liverpool where she was a Governor at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. Sandra was appointed in 2022 as a Panel member for Redress Scotland.

Naghat Ahmed

Naghat is a Law and Accountancy graduate. Her current role at Glasgow City Council includes both programme and project management. She has previously worked on policy and strategy development, equality and diversity, change management, corporate governance and utilising project methodologies.

She previously worked in the Commission for Racial Equality and NHS24, specialising in equality and diversity. Naghat is a carer for relatives who have disabilities.

Since 2018 Naghat has also been a member of the Mobility and Access Committee for Scotland and since September 2021 has been a non-executive member for Social Security Scotland.

Carole Wilkinson

Carole Wilkinson was appointed to the Chair of Healthcare Improvement Scotland in October 2018, for a term of four years and was appointed for a further four years from October 2022. She has been a member of the General Teaching Council Scotland since June 2018. She is a former Non-Executive member of NHS Education for Scotland and a former Chair of the Board of Scottish Children's Reporter Administration. She was also Chief Executive of the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) from 2001-2009, establishing the organisation and overseeing the implementation of the regulation and registration of social services workers.

Before moving to the SSSC, Carole held the post of Director of Housing and Social Work for Falkirk Council and during her career has held a number of senior management posts in England and also spent a period in higher education teaching social workers and social care staff. She has also served on a number of Scottish Government working groups advising on workforce development matters and on future workforce needs and how health and social care staff could be supported to work and learn together.

Carole was elected Vice Chair of the NHS Chairs Group in May 2021 taking up the position in August 2021, she will assume the role of Chair of the Group in August 2023.

Dr Bill Maxwell

Bill has extensive experience of developing national approaches to quality assurance and improvement and leading public sector reform, gained within Scotland and beyond. After a decade working as an educational psychologist, Bill joined the Scottish Education Inspectorate in 1994. Following a range of roles and a two-year secondment to the Scottish Government, Bill moved to Wales as HM Chief Inspector of Education in 2008, leading of the Welsh inspection system. He returned to Scotland as HM Chief Inspector of Education for Scotland in 2010 and shortly afterwards was appointed to lead the creation of Education Scotland, a new type of public service improvement agency which incorporated the functions of an inspectorate with a wider range of services to promote national improvement and the effective delivery of the Government’s major reform programmes in education. Bill retired from Education Scotland in 2017 and is now consulting on education quality assurance, including projects for the European Commission and the OECD. He is also a member of the British Council's Advisory Committee for Scotland. Bill was appointed as a Board member of OSCR, the Scottish Charity Regulator, in March 2022.

Rognvald Johnson

Rognvald commenced his career working for The Royal Bank of Scotland, serving in a number of branches/departments, including the Bank’s Internal Audit Department, before retiring as Senior Manager for the Orkney Branches. After a spell working at Orkney College as Development Officer, he was engaged as Project Director, successfully developing and delivering a Business Improvement District in Kirkwall. Rognvald was appointed as a Non- Executive Director with NHS Orkney in July 2012 until June 2018, during which time he served as Chair of the Finance and Performance Committee, as well as Vice Chair of the Audit Committee. During the latter part of his term, Rognvald represented NHS Orkney on Orkney Integrated Joint Board, responsible for the provision of Health and Care in the County, also serving on its Audit Committee.

Rognvald is also a Director on the Board of Orkney Hyperbaric Trust, a Charity Registered in Scotland, and which provides decompression facilities, if required, to divers.

Rona Fraser

Rona has over 30 years of experience as a social worker and manager within the field of criminal justice social work. Her commitment to partnership working, the values of social work and public service remain as strong now as when she started working as a social worker. She was formerly the Senior Manager for Community Justice for the City of Edinburgh Council. She has a particular interest in cross-cutting issues such as domestic abuse, women in the criminal justice system and the development of trauma informed services and leadership and has had a key role in developing services in these areas. She has also had extensive experience of the risk assessment and management of offenders, including establishing the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements within Edinburgh, working closely with partners across key agencies.

Professor Paul Gray

Paul is an experienced senior executive leader at CEO level. He places a strong emphasis on ethical and compassionate leadership, transparency and collaborative working. Committed to public accountability, he is experienced in leading delivery and change in complex systems and has had significant exposure to scrutiny in highly visible and politically contested sectors. Paul is currently an Honorary Professor at the University of Glasgow College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, a Senior Faculty Member at the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh), Scotland’s member of council at the Open University, a Civil Service Commissioner, and a Lay Adviser to the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. He is also a Senior Adviser to strategic communications firm Charlotte Street Partners, Patron of Medics Against Violence, and a coach and mentor to a number of senior executives.

From December 2013 to February 2019, Paul was Chief Executive NHS Scotland and Director General for Health and Social Care in the Scottish Government, responsible for the delivery of health and care services through 22 Health Boards, and partner organisations, with accountability for an annual budget of £13bn and a staffing complement of around 160,000.

Charlotte Armitage

Charlotte is a Care Experienced third-year History and Sociology Student at the University of Glasgow, due to graduate next summer.

Aside from her passion for history, Charlotte brings to the board her extensive knowledge of the care system in Scotland gained from her own lived experience, five years of professional experience within the third sector, and as a consultant for CELCIS, The National Leadership Network, as a former group member of the Workforce Group of the Independent Care Review.

This knowledge ranges from a deep understanding of local delivery through her work with East Lothian Champions’ Board, to high-level project development skills that have seen internationally recognised campaigns emerge; as well as legislative and policy changes, such as the guaranteed offer to university for Care Experienced applicants and the extension of free childcare for Care Experienced parents, implemented under her leadership during her time working for Who Cares? Scotland. These skills and experience are further complemented by her in-depth political research experience, passion for social justice forged from her career in public affairs at the Scottish Parliament, and her COSCA Counselling Skills diploma.

Audrey Cowie

Audrey is a trustee and governor at St Columba’s Hospice Care in Edinburgh. She has also held non-executive director roles with the Scottish Social Services Council and the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Audrey is a first level registered nurse with over 40 years experience and was appointed in May 2022 as the nurse to sit on the Care Inspectorate Board. During her career, Audrey has held senior managerial roles in the NHS; advisory roles in Scottish Government; and regulatory and quality assurance roles nationally, regionally and locally.

Audrey has extensive experience in the professional regulation of nurses and other professions, and in the scrutiny and improvement agenda in both Scotland and Europe and has an enduring personal professional interest in governance, regulation, scrutiny and inspection.

Maria McGill

Maria McGill has 40 years’ experience as a nurse, leader and Chief Executive working in the NHS and voluntary sector.

The last 30 years of her career was spent in palliative and end of life care. For the last 10 years, Maria was Chief Executive of Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS), Scotland’s only children’s hospice organisation.

Maria is also a member of The Promise Scotland Oversight Board and a Trustee of Marie Curie UK.

Rosanna Moore

Rosie Moore is a qualified Social Worker with First Class Honours from the University of Strathclyde. Having grown up in care herself, she has a particular passion for working with looked after children and young people and their families.

In 2017, Rosie was nominated by the Coalition of Care Providers Scotland to become a Discovery Group member for the Independent Care Review. She was then asked to stay on for the duration of the Review, becoming a co-chair of the working group for LOVE and latterly as the participation lead for those with seldom heard voices and young people in secure care.

Rosie is currently at the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection (CELCIS), where she has worked for several years, with a focus on social policy and participation of those with lived experience.

Rosie has won several awards for her work in the sector, including Young Scot’s 30under30 and Strathclyde’s Women in Leadership. Rosie also holds positions on the Management Group of the Each and Every Child Initiative and as a Board Member for Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare (STAF).

Edward McGrachan

Ed McGrachan has had an international career in IT, Telecommunications and Business Transformation, with time spent working for Nortel Networks and BT on major projects in North America, Continental Europe and the UK. He also served as Non-Executive Board Member and Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee at the Student Awards Agency Scotland, with board oversight of the digital transformation of systems and processes aligning with the Scottish Government’s Digital First strategy.

Ed has worked with various public and charitable organisations; Member of the Diocesan Board of Education for the Church of England in Devon; Treasurer of Citizen Advice in Devon and elected Lead Governor of South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust; providing him with a broad spectrum of Governance experience. He was appointed Chairman of the Veterans Advisory and Pensions Committee for West Scotland, a Non-Departmental Public Body working across both devolved and reserved Government sectors in support of Veterans issues.

Currently, he serves as Non-Executive Member at Glasgow Colleges Regional Board, where he chairs the Audit and Assurance Committee. He is an Appointed Member on the Partnership Board of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, where he is a member of the Strategy and Programmes Committee.

Jennifer Trott

Jenny Trott is an experienced unpaid carer who has spent the past 10 years managing a team of carers in her family home to provide high-quality care for her disabled son. She is a strong advocate for inclusion and equality, and she has a passion for promoting excellent care standards for all.

Jenny was the founder director of Mecoco, a social enterprise that provided disabled adults and young people with valuable workplace experience. In addition, she has extensive experience in residential dementia care and community brokerage.

Recently, Jenny has undertaken a new challenge, training as a life coach to support women navigating life-changing experiences. She uses her training and expertise to help her clients achieve their best lives. Through her work, Jenny is committed to making a positive impact on the lives of those around her.

Downloads: 47734

Using our logo

Published: 05 December 2014

Using our 'Registered by the Care Inspectorate' widget

Services can show people visiting their website that they are Care Inspectorate registered with our widget.

The widget is a logo that can be displayed on any website.  Every service has its own unique coding behind the widget, linked directly to its service information on our website.

So, if you are a care service and you want to show your website visitors that you are registered with us, ask your website administrator to download the widget for free and display it on your website.

Find out how you can use the widget on your website.

Using our standard logo

We don’t allow services to use our standard Care Inspectorate logo as it represents our own brand identity, signifying us and our own work. 

Using the Care Inspectorate logo on any document or in association with any information signifies that the document or information has been prepared or approved by the Care Inspectorate.

Using the Care Inspectorate logo without our permission infringes our copyright.

Our logo is used only on materials generated by the Care Inspectorate or where we have worked in partnership with another organisation.

If you want to use our logo you must ask our permission.

You can contact us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Downloads: 18743

Equality and diversity

Published: 05 December 2014

At the Care Inspectorate, we believe that people in Scotland should experience a better quality of life as a result of accessible, excellent services that are designed and delivered to reflect their individual needs and promote their rights.  We are committed to advancing equality of opportunity, eliminating unlawful discrimination and fostering good relations between all protected characteristics.

Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

  • We ensure that the voice of people who experience care is reflected in all our work
  • We promote fairness, equality, diversity and inclusion in all that we do
  • We promote dignity and respect and human rights for all
  • We recognise and value individual differences and the contributions of all
  • We treat people fairly and according to their needs
  • We have a zero-tolerance approach to all forms of discrimination, harassment, bullying or victimisation
  • We have a culture where everyone feels valued and included.

As an organisation, our work, has a focus on people’s rights, choices and individual outcomes, the things that matter most to people. We continue to strive to put equality and diversity at the heart of all we do and that’s why we made equality and diversity a key principle of our Corporate Plan.

Equality, diversity and inclusion statement of intent

At the Care Inspectorate we’re committed to creating a culture that embraces equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging for everyone.

At the Care Inspectorate we value, celebrate and fully embrace to the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion. This requires us all to recognise and respect each others’ differences. Creating an inclusive work environment where we all feel a sense of belonging helps us to do our best work, which results in the best possible outcomes for people who experience care.

We are a values-driven organisation, which means our values inform and guide everything that we do. Our key values of being person-centred, fair and respectful are the most relevant to equality, diversity and inclusion. We expect everyone to follow the principles that are set out in the Health and Social Care Standards as well as any relevant individual codes of practice.

As an employer, we want to increase the diversity of our workforce and would especially welcome applications from disabled people, people from a minority ethnic background, people of all ages, men (as we have a 79% female workforce) people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community and people with care experience. We want a workforce that reflects the wider Scottish population that we serve.

Photo of the Care Inspecotrate's strategic leadership team.

Signed by our strategic leadership team

The strategic leadership team have signed this statement to demonstrate our commitment to leading inclusively and to show accountability on making equality, diversity and inclusion integral to the way we do things around here.

Meeting our Equality Requirements

Like other public bodies in Scotland, we are required to meet the requirements of the General and Specific Public Sector Equality Duties, as set out by the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012. We report on our equality obligations under the legislation every two years.  

Publications

In our dual role as a scrutiny and improvement body and a public sector employer, we are committed to meeting our legal obligations in all aspects of our work. We are covered by general and specific equality duties arising from the Equality Act (2010) which helps us to integrate equality into our day-to-day work. We report on our equality obligations under the legislation every two years. Here are our publications:

 

Our policies and strategic workforce plan 

We appreciate and value our workforce and have a range of family friendly and flexible working policies available. We are proud of the range of inclusive work practices we offer colleagues.

We offer equalities training to our workforce and this is built into our induction and includes our managers and leaders. We have a supportive and respectful organisational culture that values equality and diversity and promotes inclusion for our workforce. Our robust people management policies and processes ensure people are treated with dignity and respect in an environment where bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation are not tolerated.

Our staff networks 

We make time to listen to our colleagues and give them a voice to share their experiences, listen to their ideas and involve them in our work. We have online communities where we discuss equalities issues, one of the most active is our disabilities group, where group members shares lived experience, good practice and ideas for improvement.

The Corporate Equality Group drives the delivery and progress of the actions from our Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report. The group meets on a quarterly basis and supports the mainstreaming of equality in relation to all the protected characteristics listed under the Equality Act (2010) and is sensitive and responsive to intersectional identities.

The LGBT Charter Champion Group is a sub-group of the Corporate Equality Group. The group also meets on a quarterly basis. You can email the group using this address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Faith Group is a self-organised group which mainly meets in our Edinburgh office. The group focuses on faith issues, faith in the workplace and encourages employees to get together as a community in a social setting. This provides an opportunity for connection and awareness raising. 

Race Equality in Employment

In November 2020 the Scottish Parliament Equality and Human Rights Committee published a report on Race Equality, Employment and Skills.  

The Public Sector Leadership Summit on Race Equality in Employment took place in March 2021. At the summit, the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee highlighted the persistent issues that impact on outcomes for minority ethnic people in Scotland moving into, staying in and progressing in employment. 

To help us with this vital work we are pleased to be working with CEMVO Scotland.

Recommendations 

The Committee have asked all public sector bodies to accept their recommendations and commit to taking them forward. 

  1. The Committee recommends those in public authority leadership positions undertake an assessment of their organisation’s understanding of racism and the structural barriers that may exist within their organisations. Public authorities should integrate their ambitions into their next strategic plan. Their strategic goal should be underpinned by specific outcomes and supported by timely monitoring. Public authorities should be transparent about their targets and their progress in delivering their outcomes.
  2. The Committee recommends public authorities should review their recruitment procedures and practice against the Scottish Government’s toolkit and make the necessary changes.
  3. The Committee recommends that all public authorities subject to the Scottish specific Public Sector Equality Duty should, as a minimum, voluntarily record and publish their ethnicity pay gap and produce an action plan to deliver identified outcomes.

Our commitment to the recommendations 

The Care Inspectorate pledge to implement the key recommendations of the Scottish Parliament's Equalities and Human Rights Committee’s Race Equality, Employment and Skills: Making Progress? Report.

As public sector leaders, we will be bold and transparent. We will embed the recommendations into the strategic objectives of our organisation and the performance objectives of our senior leaders. We will use equality data to provide insights on race equality within the Care Inspectorate and we will take responsibility to assess our organisation’s understanding of institutional racism and proactively challenge and change practices that disadvantage minority ethnic communities. Vitally, we will ensure that minority ethnic communities are involved in shaping this change. We recognise that taking forward the recommendations represents not a final, but a further step, and therefore this work will form part of the continuum of activity and training to tackle racial inequality in employment, which will be aligned with the key principles of the Scottish Government Race Equality Framework 2016-2030. It is important that we make this commitment clear, not just to each other, but to our staff and people who experience care, who will hold us to account. We have therefore published this commitment on our website and social media.

We are pleased to share we are a signatory of the Business in the Community Race at Work Charter. We know that ethnic minorities still face significant disparities in employment and progression, and that is something we need to change. The Charter is composed of five calls to action for leaders and organisations across all sectors.  We signed up to taking practical steps to ensure their workplaces are tackling barriers that ethnic minority people face in recruitment and progression and that their organisations are representative of British society today. 

LGBT Charter Champion Group 

We attend Pride events to increase visibility about LGBT issues and to be more proactive about being inclusive for lesbian, gay, bi and trans people as an organisation. Our commitment to inclusion and diversity, and to the LGBT community, has been recognised externally.

In 2018 we were awarded LGBT Youth Scotland’s Foundation Charter award and we are the first regulator in Scotland to receive this award. In July 2020 we were shortlisted for the Proud Scot Employer Award Large Business.

In 2020 we became a Stonewall Diversity Champion as we wanted to ensure that all LGBT staff are accepted without exception in the workplace. In February 2022 we achieved the Bronze Employer Award in the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. In June 2022 we were delighted to be awarded the Large Employer Award by Proud Scotland.

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Click here to watch a short film Return to the Closet? by Luminate Scotland. Older members of the LGBTQI+ community worked with artist Glenda Rome to create a film which illustrated their thoughts and feelings around ageing, being part of the community and what care means to them and the support they’d want from care providers – whether at home or in care homes. Luminate commissioned the film with support from LGBT Health and Wellbeing. Luminate’s Principal Supporters are Creative Scotland, The Baring Foundation and Age Scotland. LGBT Health and Wellbeing’s LGBT Age Community Action Project is funded by Comic Relief.

First Minister’s National Advisory Council on women and girls (NACWG)

We are a circle member of the First Minister’s National Advisory Council on Women and Girls (NACWG). The NACWG was set up to advise the First Minister on what is needed to tackle gender inequality in Scotland and you can read their latest report here. We are now part of a group of supporters and advisors who help generate ideas and solutions that will inform NACWG’s work. 

Age Scotland 

We are working with Age Scotland to support our commitment to providing an age inclusive environment where staff feel valued, respected and able to reach their full potential at all ages and stages of their career.

Carer Positive Employer 

We are a Carer Positive Established Employer and are committed to supporting our colleagues who are carers. We have recently made changes to our Carers Policy which means we offer up to five days (35 hours) paid time off to support carers.

Fair Work Framework 

The goal of the Fair Work Framework is to ensure that by 2025, people in Scotland will have a world-leading working life where fair work drives success, wellbeing and prosperity for individuals, businesses, organisations and society. 

The Care Inspectorate can support this vision by ensuring the fair work values run through the organisation and embedding fair working practices into everything we do.  We are committed to building a Scotland which champions fair work practices and a diverse workforce.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 

Our work also supports the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Convention sets out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all children are entitled to. As a public body, we are required to publish a report on how our work supports the various articles of the UNCRC. 2020 is the first year we have been asked to report on the UNCRC. Our next report will be published in August 2023.

Contact us

If you would like to contact us, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us directly by using contactSCOTLAND-BSL.

2023: Equalities Mainstreaming Progress Report April 2021- March 2023.

Downloads: 31153

Procurement

Published: 05 December 2014

Supplier payments

We are committed to the ‘Confederation of British Industry Prompt Payment Code’ for the payment of bills for goods and services we receive. It is our policy to make payments in accordance with the Scottish Government’s instructions on prompt payment and a target payment within 10 days. 

National Fraud Initiative (NFI) 

We participate in the NFI under powers introduced by the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 and incorporated in Part 2A of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000. The information we provide can be found here.  

The exercise uses computerised techniques to compare electronic data held within and transferred between public and private sector, to identify the existence of possible fraud or error.    

Our overarching privacy notice also provides details of your rights in relation to data processing, including the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner. If you have any queries about Data Protection in the Care Inspectorate, please contact our data protection officer via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 


Procurement has a significant role to play to achieve the Care Inspectorate’s objectives, and our seven key principles are reflected in our procurement strategy.

Our 2023-2026 Procurement Strategy:

  • sets out our priorities and proposals for procurement over the planning period

  • identifies those factors that will influence the way in which we manage the procurement process 

  • describes the arrangements for monitoring and evaluating the strategy.

Public Contracts Scotland

Our contracts register for all competitively advertised contracts exceeding £50,000 is published on the Public Contracts Scotland portal. We publish high value tenders on the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) advertising website.  We encourage businesses to register for free on this site. It will give you access to a large number of high and low value public authority contract opportunities across Scotland, including the Care Inspectorate.  You can also view our profile.

We do not maintain an internal register of suppliers or have an approved supplier list.

It covers lower value contract opportunities but also those above the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) threshold. 

Our conditions of contract

Our procurement practices - values and promotion of tenders

As a public sector organisation our procurement activity is guided by legislation and best practice, with the route being determined by the potential total value of the contract.

Supplier opportunities, guidance and support - useful websites

  • A national Dynamic Purchasing reserved for Supported Businesses has been established to provide products and services to the Scottish public sector. 

  • The Online Supplier Journey makes it easier for Scottish companies to bid for work in the public sector.

    • The website guides firms, large and small, through each step in the process – setting out what to expect from buyers and what is expected of them, simplifying guidance, making it easier to understand.  It is particularly useful for small businesses. 

    • The journey guides businesses through the process of applying for contracts, making the system more streamlined and easier to understand and has been developed with the help of Scottish companies who have already gone through the process. 

  • The Single Point of Enquiry is an independent, impartial and confidential service for suppliers to the public sector in Scotland.  The service offers advice on the procurement rules which must be followed by public bodies in Scotland and information on how contracts are advertised and awarded.   If you have concerns about a specific tender exercise, they can work with you and the buying organisation to try and resolve your concerns.  They do not have formal powers to investigate suppliers’ concerns or change decisions made by buying organisations. Feedback from suppliers contributes to improvements in public procurement practices in Scotland.

  • Scottish Enterprise Net Zero Accelerator Tool – this is designed to help businesses work towards a net zero future using practical, inclusive and data-led solutions.

The Supplier Development Programme (SDP)

Scotland’s free tender training service for SME’s is a programme of tender training events.

The programme has been designed to ensure that SME’s can easily progress through the various different course levels with free events in or near their business location, plus many of the courses can be accessed online via webinar, reducing the time burden on small businesses being out of the office.

The programme includes a wealth of courses, including “hot topics” such as Community Benefits and Sustainable Procurement, as well as core issues such as finding contracts and completing ESPDs. So whether you are just starting out and wish to find out about how to work with the public sector or need to improve your tender skills, SDP will have a course for you. Please click on the following link to browse and book a course and get tender ready: https://www.sdpscotland.co.uk/events-training/

Supplier Cyber Security

Cyber-attacks (such as phishing, ransomware, hacking, etc.) are becoming an increasing threat to our economy and society. No internet-connected organisation, however large or small, is immune.

Cyber-attacks may be targeted at specific organisations or individuals, or untargeted, where attackers indiscriminately attack as many vulnerable machines or users connected to the internet as possible. These attacks are as real a risk to the small business that relies on a database of customers to distribute its goods as they are to multinational banking organisations.

 As part of the Scottish Public Sector Action Plan on Cyber Resilience Scotland’s public sector organisations are encouraged to adopt a common approach to supplier cyber security. Links to authoritative sources of advice and support can be found at the Scottish Government Cyber Resilience website.  

The NCSC’s small business and charities guides can be found at National Cyber Security Centre - NCSC.GOV.UK

You can get a free digital health check and 1:1 support at Business Gateway's Digital Boost.

Annual Procurement Report

Our progress towards achieving our strategic procurement priorities has been published in our CI Annual Procurement Report 2022-23This report also provides information on our regulated procurement activity for 22-23 and our planned procurement activity for the two year period 2023-25. 

Downloads: 20370

About Us

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.