More information about the review

Exploring the delivery, experience and impact of services when young people are planning to leave care and after they have moved on.

We have now completed a thematic review of the experiences of young people leaving care in Scotland and the extent to which their rights are upheld.  The review was started in April 2024 and a final report was published on the 5 November 2024.

In 2021, the A Way Home Coalition published  Youth Homeless Prevention Pathway: Improving Care Leavers Housing Pathways. This paper highlighted the need for equality in provision of aftercare services, the importance of pathway planning and of reducing risks and crises for young people in Scotland. The following recommendation was made:

The Scottish Government should work with the Care Inspectorate to develop and undertake robust thematic integrated reviews of ‘transition services’ involving key stakeholders and providers (such as housing and accommodation and further and higher education) and Aftercare engagement up to 26.

Purpose of the review 

The review focussed on the experiences of young people aged between 16 and 26 who are, or have been, formally looked after and accommodated in foster care or care homes for children and young people. We were committed to seeking the views of young people about how they felt their rights were being upheld. It was carried out under Section 53 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

The review aimed to establish the following:

• The extent to which young people and their families are actively and meaningfully involved in all decisions about their continued care and have effective opportunities to influence service design and development.
• The extent to which young people’s lives are improving through high quality assessment, planning and support which enables them to live in stable and suitable accommodation which is right for them.
• How leaders ensure the effective delivery of services for young people who are either continuing to be cared for or are leaving care.

Although the statutory duties rest with the local authorities, the review took account of the roles of children’s services planning partners.

We have conducted the review in two phases.

Phase 1

• was based on self-reported information (through a ‘national survey’) provided by leaders and staff with responsibility for corporate parenting, and the local champions’ boards (or equivalent) of all 32 local authorities. 
• we undertook a literature review, including national research and publications, and additional published reports.
• we gathered feedback from focus groups with scrutiny partners, a professional interest group and regulated care service inspectors.
• we also took account of relevant national data. 

Phase 2

We offered children’s services partnerships in four local authority areas the opportunity to take part in phase two to support their development in this part of their work and help us better understand the experiences of young people in their area. Our intention was that these four areas would support our work in phase two which was made up of the following key elements:

• a focused meeting with the lead professionals for five selected young people in each area: combining a case discussion with access to records.
• individual meetings with the five young people
• focus groups of senior leaders, champions boards and corporate parenting boards.
• a review of relevant local documentation.

Reporting 

The thematic review concluded with the publication of a single national overview report, with individual feedback also given to each of the four participating areas.  While we were not evaluating partnerships on their performance, we have reported on what is working well across Scotland.  We have also reported on the current challenges for transition services; drawing on the perspectives of young people, families, and staff supporting care experienced young people.

• Final report
• Key messages (press release)

The lead for this review was Jackie Deas, supported by Elena Mills, Strategic Support Officer.

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.

Update - September 2023

What we have done so far

Following the notification of the thematic review, we issued a survey to social work teams across Scotland.  By mid- august we had received responses from all 32 local authority areas.  We are now looking at the information from the survey.  This is helping us to build a picture about social work’s contribution to how well disabled children and young people’s needs are assessed, planned for, and met.

We have been reading national reports and research to find out what disabled children and young people have already said what is important to them, and about their experiences of support.

Conversations with our key stakeholders, are helping us to develop our ideas about our engagement approaches with children and young people.  We are keen that we explore opportunities to ensure that our approach is rights based, accessible and is inclusive.

We will use all the information we have gathered so far to help us identify our focus during the next stage.

Next steps

Four areas have volunteered to help us better understand children and young people’s experiences and the difference social work services are making to their lives.  We are pleased to welcome them to this next stage of the review.  The areas are:

• Aberdeen city
• Dundee city
• Dumfries and Galloway
• Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)

We will be working with these social work teams from September 2023 to March 2024.

More information can be found on our website here.

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.

Disabled children and young people: Thematic review 2023-24

On this page you will find information about our national report Disabled children and young people’s experiences of social work services: a thematic review.

Formats

• This report is available in Easy Read format

• Animation

• Braille is available on request

If you require any other formats please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Review

Our aim in carrying out this review was to learn and understand more about disabled children and young people’s views and experiences of the support they received from social work services. We focused on social work’s contribution to getting it right for every disabled child and considered how well disabled children’s rights were being respected and upheld.

This report presents the key messages of our review of how well social work services contribute to ensuring disabled children have their rights respected and receive early care and support. It includes reflections and actions for social work services and Scottish Government to consider in order to improve outcomes for disabled children and young people.

Key messages

Our review found that:

1. Respectful relationships were key to building a culture of listening to and respecting children and young people’s views. This ensured they were engaged in decisions about their care and support.
2. Too many disabled children and young people’s views, feelings and wishes were not being heard.
3. When children and young people received the right support at the right time from social work services, this helped them to grow and develop
4. Increasing complexity of need and high demand for services was outweighing the availability of supports.
5. Children and young people were not always provided with meaningful choices about the support they received.
6. Parents and carers routinely provide a significant level of care and support. Their wellbeing must be promoted and protected.
7. The quality of social work assessments, plans and reviews were variable and were not always properly addressing all the child or young person’s needs.
8. The experience of transitioning into life as a young adult continues to be characterised by unpredictability and uncertainty for too many disabled young people.
9. Compassionate and dedicated social work staff were helping to improve the lives of children and young people. High workloads and recruitment and retention of staff significantly challenged staff teams.
10.   The social work role was not always easily understood by families and/or other professionals.
11.   Reliable data and a shared definition of disability are not available to inform future planning or to support the setting budgets.

Actions required

The responsibility for improvement sits with us all. The actions noted below will require a shared approach across Scottish Government, local authorities, national and local organisations and public bodies, including the Care inspectorate.

The actions required:

1. The views of disabled children and their families must be considered as part of service mapping, understanding unmet need and service planning.
2. A robust approach to gathering and analysing data on disabled children and young people must be implemented, both in social work services and wider. This must be used effectively to inform service planning and improvement.
3. We must take action in response to the views of disabled children and their families to ensure gaps in service provision are addressed.
4. The role of social work services in providing care and support to disabled children must be clearly defined and understood across agencies. Clear and accessible information should be available and communicated to children and their families. This should include eligibility criteria.
5. Opportunities for effective early intervention should be strengthened.
6. Opportunities for play and friendships, along with other areas that are important to children, should be maximised. This will need a collective and holistic response.
7. Adequate resourcing must be made available to enable services to develop and improve.

You can read the full report here.

Secure care pathway review 2022-23

Our approach

We carried out a secure care pathway review between July 2022 and July 2023 to consider the impact of the Secure Care Pathway and Standards that were published in October 2020.  The review focused on young people up to the age of 18 who have been placed – or are at risk of being placed – by Scottish local authorities, in secure care accommodation.

The review centred on listening to and understanding the experiences of 30 young people across Scotland before, during and after experiencing secure care accommodation.   During the review period we tracked the journeys of these young people and this helped us to consider impact and outcomes over time.  The annual inspections of registered secure care providers continue to be carried out.  We worked jointly with the inspectors of these services to inform the review, particularly in relation to the ‘during’ stage of young people’s journeys through secure care.

Our review is now complete and you can read the report here.

More information

Information about the secure care pathway and standards can be found here.