New legislation from Disclosure Scotland

On 1 April 2025, the Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 was enacted and the PVG scheme became a legal requirement for anyone carrying out a regulated role. Staff and volunteers carrying out a regulated role must be members of the PVG scheme, and providers employing them (paid or unpaid) must have received a PVG scheme disclosure before the staff member or volunteer commences their regulated role. It is not sufficient for the application to have been started, you must have received the disclosure from Disclosure Scotland before the individual can begin their regulated role. You will find a list of roles which currently need a PVG here.

The Care Inspectorate and the SSSC support implementation of the new legislation from Disclosure Scotland. Providers must ensure staff are recruited in line with legislative requirements, and to ensure that unsuitable people cannot carry out a regulated role.

However, it is only the regulated role aspect of the role that cannot be undertaken before the PVG is received. That means any of the listed ‘regulated activities’ within Schedules 2 and 3 of the PVG Act must not be done prior to the PVG being shared with the provider. That might mean individuals can do their in office training or induction while the PVG is awaiting processing, as long as service users are not involved. 


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New joint statement on the Quality improvement framework for early learning and childcare sectors

In January 2025, the new Quality improvement framework for early learning and childcare sectors was published to give settings an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the content before it is used for inspection. The final framework will be published online on Thursday 18 September and it will be used for inspections from Monday 22 September.

Since the start of this year, the Care Inspectorate and HM Inspectors have undertaken pilot visits/inspections helping us test out how the framework works. In total, 75 pilot visits/inspections took place across 28 local authorities. These were made up of:

  • 55 shared and single Care Inspectorate pilot inspections
  • 20 visits by HM Inspectors.

Piloting the framework was an essential part of the process, allowing both the Care Inspectorate and HM Inspectors to test it in live settings – from exploring the use of individual Quality Indicators (QIs) to gathering feedback. Thank you to every setting that supported these pilots. The infographic at the bottom of this email is a summary of the feedback we received following the 55 shared and single Care Inspectorate pilot inspections.


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Review of findings from the joint inspection programme 2021-2025

An overview of joint inspections for services for children and young people at risk of harm has found overall improvements.

The report released today by the Care Inspectorate noted improvements to the impact services have on the lives of many children and young people, while acknowledging some aspects need further attention, including at a national level.

Inspectors acknowledged a high degree of relationship based and trauma informed practice across services and observed staff in a wide range of universal services working well together to support families. They also noted strengths in multi-agency responses to early indications of concern and the ways in which children and young people were involved in decision making in relation to their own planning and support. In general, they also noted improvements across key processes of assessment, planning and reviewing.


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Statement on St Andrew's Care Home, Hawick

A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said: “An inspection has identified serious and significant concerns about the quality of care experienced by residents at St Andrew’s Care Home in Hawick.

“We understand this is a difficult and distressing time for residents, their families and staff at the service.

“However, our first priority is always the health and wellbeing of residents.

“Because of our concerns we have issued an Improvement Notice.


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Complaints about care services in Scotland, 2019/20 to 2024/25

The Care Inspectorate has today published a statistical bulletin on complaints about care services in Scotland.

The report covers complaints received and investigated between April 2019 and March 2025. The report focusses on the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.

It reflects how the Care Inspectorate actioned every complaint received using a risk-based assessment process to resolve complaints as quickly as possible for complainants.

In total, the Care Inspectorate received 5,303 complaints in 2024/25, a 6% decrease on last year, the lowest for four years.

The majority of this decrease is due to fewer complaints about care homes.


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