People’s rights to meaningful connection with others
Connecting with others is essential to everyone’s health and wellbeing and forms part of our human rights. Every adult and older person living in a care home has the right to connect with family, friends and community. They have the right to have visits and to go out if they wish. Care homes should support this and should not put any barriers or restrictions in place.
Scotland’s Health and Social Care Standards set out what people should expect when using health, care or social work services. In 2022, two additional Standards were introduced that cover the right to visit even when there is an outbreak of infectious disease.
The Care Reform (Scotland) Act was passed in June 2025. This enshrines Anne’s Law into legislation, upholding the rights of people living in adult care homes to see their loved ones and identify Essential Care Supporters. The Anne’s Law Code of Practice explains how Anne’s Law should work day to day.
We have produced a poster which informs people about their rights and would encourage services to display this.
Guidance on what we expect from care homes
Care homes must ensure that people are supported to maintain relationships and participate in their communities, in accordance with their wishes and personal plans.
Personal planning must identify the people who are important to the individual, including those who may be designated as Essential Care Supporters.
We have published guidance, Supporting meaningful connection: good practice guidance for care homes, which will help to assess how well meaningful connection is supported for everyone in your service and also help to identify any potential areas for improvement that can be incorporated into your service improvement plan.
We expect care homes to support visiting and we have published a factsheet which explains how visiting should be supported in normal and exceptional circumstances.
More generally, our quality framework for care homes for adults and older people can be used by care home providers in conjunction with the self-evaluation guide and self-assessment tools to review and assess the quality of service they are delivering. Our meaningful connection self-evaluation tool has been designed to help providers evaluate how they are doing in terms of supporting meaningful connection for people experiencing care and identify any areas where they want to improve.
Providers must have a visiting policy that reflects the requirements of Anne’s Law and the Code of Practice, and supports consistent, rights-based implementation across the service.
Self-evaluation tool
Download the meaningful connection self-evaluation tool below:
How visiting and going out should normally work
We expect people who live in care homes to be able to see their visitors at any time and without restriction. This includes outings from the home. Children and pets should be welcome to visit.
Care homes should not operate booking systems or restrict when people can visit or go out. Visitors should not have to give notice, and visits and outings should not have a time limit. Visitors should be able to access the home easily and without unnecessary delay.
Family carers should be included as partners in care, and should be able to be directly involved in supporting their loved one with day-to-day care if this is what they both want.
Each resident should be supported to identify people who are most important to them. These individuals may be recorded in the personal plan as Essential Care Supporters, who have additional protections to maintain contact, including during any periods of restriction on visiting.
Standard infection control precautions should always be followed, and visitors should not enter a care home if they are potentially infectious with any illness.
What happens in exceptional circumstances?
In exceptional circumstances, there may be restrictions to visiting. Any restriction or suspension of visiting must only take place where it is essential to prevent a serious risk to life, health or wellbeing. It must be robustly risk assessed and for the minimum possible period. Restrictions should as non-invasive and non-intrusive as possible, and normal visiting must resume as soon as possible. In the event of an outbreak of an infectious disease, temporary restrictions on visiting may be required. These are overseen by the local Health Protection Team in dialogue with the care home manager, and will be kept under frequent review.
Even if visiting is suspended, care homes must continue to facilitate essential visits, which include:
- where it is likely that a person may have died or significantly deteriorated before the suspension is lifted
- where the harm caused by isolation outweighs the risk.
Care homes must continue to facilitate visits with Essential Care Supporters, unless there is a clear and evidenced reason why this would pose a serious risk to life, health or wellbeing that cannot be mitigated.
Essential Care Supporters should be enabled to continue providing support, including emotional and practical care where appropriate, as far as possible.
The care home should ensure that information about any temporary restrictions, along with the reasons for and expected duration of restrictions, is clearly communicated to all relevant people, including notifying the Care Inspectorate and Chief Social Work Officer. People should be informed about their right to request a review of decisions.
Technology and meaningful contact
People in Scotland who experience care are increasingly using digital connectivity and technology to support their wellbeing and daily activities, however, we recognise this may not meet needs for everyone. We have published a practice guide for care services on how technology and digital devices can be used to make a positive impact on health and wellbeing for people experiencing care.
Support and advice
The Care Inspectorate is here to support all care services to improve. For support and advice, contact your inspector who will be happy to explore issues and solutions with you. You can also contact the Meaningful Connection, Visiting and Anne’s Law project team directly at
Local NHS health protection teams provide advice and support on infection prevention and control and managing outbreaks of infectious diseases.
Health and social care partnerships are responsible for social care provision across local areas and may be able to provide practical advice and guidance to help services support better outcomes for people experiencing care. Each health and social care partnership is unique, so we advise contacting the partnership that covers your service location to understand what support you can access.
Open Badges
The Meaningful Connection, Visiting and Anne’s Law project team have, in partnership with SSSC, developed a series of Open Badges on different aspects of meaningful connection.
The badges, linked to the project’s series of webinars and factsheets, provide an opportunity for staff to reflect upon, develop, and evidence their understanding of and commitment to supporting meaningful connection in day to day practice. They will also be helpful for employers to use as part of staff training and development, and for staff to evidence their Continuous Professional Learning. The badges are geared towards staff working in care homes for adults and older people, but will also be of interest to those working in other services.
Whistleblowing
If you work in social care and want information about how to raise a concern about your workplace, visit our webpage on whistleblowing.