The Care Inspectorate has published its annual report on whistleblowing complaints.
The Care Inspectorate records whistleblowing incidents through complaints received from an employee or ex-employee of a registered care service or of the Care Inspectorate. Where these are anonymous concerns or complaints, it is not always possible to verify the detail.
In 2024/25, the Care Inspectorate received one internal whistleblowing complaint from an ex-employee of the Care Inspectorate, which was progressed for investigation.
In 2024/25, the regulator received 5,303 complaints about services, of which 1,195 were raised by employees of care services. Of this group, 971 were identified as current employees (81%) and 224 were identified as ex-employees (19%). Overall, this is a reduction of 6% on the rate of complaints raised by care service staff from the previous year.
The complaints process allows people to remain anonymous when raising an issue about a registered care service. This means their identity is unknown to the Care Inspectorate, although they self-identify their relationship to the care service, which cannot be verified by us. The percentage of all complaints by complainant type received anonymously during 2024/25 has increased by one percentage point from the year before, with 62% of complaints received in 2024/25 compared to 61% in 2023/24. There was also an increase of two percentage points in the proportion of individuals who self-identified as an employee or ex-employee of a care service wishing to remain anonymous, with 73% wishing to remain anonymous in 2024/25 compared to 71% in 2023/24.
During 2024/25, 56% of relatives and carers wished to remain anonymous, compared to 55% the previous year. People experiencing care who wished to remain anonymous increased by two percentage points 2024/25 (51%) compared to 2023/24 (49%).
Jackie Irvine, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: “The complaints function of the Care Inspectorate is an important element of our regulatory methodology, and enables us to gather important information on how well registered services are performing.
“When someone tells us they are a staff member or ex-staff member of a registered
care service or the Care Inspectorate, we inform them of their protection under the whistleblowing legislation. Each whistleblowing complaint contributes to the overall scrutiny of care services and helps to inform their journey of improvement.”
The full report can be read here.