Professional

Published: 06 October 2014

We are the national regulator for care services in Scotland.  We also inspect the social work services provided by local authorities and we carry out joint inspections with partner organisations.

We are here to:

  • provide assurance and protection for people who use services, their families and carers and the wider public
  • play a key part in improving services for adults and children across Scotland
  • act as a catalyst for change and innovation
  • promote good practice.

People have the right to expect the highest quality of care and their rights promoted and protected.  It is our job to drive up standards of care and social work services through regulation and inspection.

Choose from the menu items on the left to find the information you need to deliver care and social work services.

Our website, The Hub offers a wide range of resources to support services to learn, innovate and improve.

Downloads: 455419

Covid-19

Published: 26 February 2020

We regularly update the information and guidance on our Covid-19 web pages. Some of the information on these pages comes from the Care Inspectorate and some comes from other official bodies involved in pandemic response across social care. We encourage all care services to keep themselves up to date by revisiting these pages on a regular basis. We also encourage visiting other online sources of information and guidance such as the websites of Scottish Government, NHS Inform and Public Health Scotland.

Care Inspectorate guidance for services

As information, guidance and practice about Covid-19 is becoming established and less subject to rapid change, we are no longer maintaining the Covid-19 FAQs or the Covid-19 compendium. For key information, view our Covid-19 information page below and the guidance links on this page.

Archived Updates

You can find older updates on the Archived Updates page.


Care homes for older people Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) guidance: what has changed during September 2022? (Added 29 September 2022)

The changes to IPC guidance throughout September bring care services ever closer to business-as-usual for service delivery.

We recognise that there may be anxiety around implementing some of the changes. With continued application of Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) and, where needed, Transmission Based Precautions (TBP) when caring for individuals who have suspected or known infection the risks can be managed and reduced.

The Care Inspectorate support the implementation of updated IPC guidance and will take this into account when visiting services.

You can find a summary of guidance changes and links to further information here.

Joint statement supports winter vaccination programme (Added 8 September 2022)

Scottish Care, the Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland, the Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Social Services Council have issued a joint statement to support the winter vaccination programme for social care staff. You can read the statement here.

Scottish Government provides update for social care on face masks, testing and vaccination (Added 8 September 2022)

Updated Covid-19 face mask guidance for social care including adult care homes

Following a review of advice, the Scottish Government has updated its guidance on the use of face masks in social care settings including adult care homes.

The updated guidance recommends that face masks do not routinely need to be worn at all times within social care settings. Instead face masks should be for particular situations (for example following staff judgement, advice from health protection / public health or personal choice). This is because although Covid-19 continues to spread, transmission rates are lower and the virus is currently milder than at earlier stages in the pandemic resulting in a reduction in severity of illness and hospitalisation.

Full details are available online Coronavirus (Covid-19): use of face coverings in social care settings including adult care homes - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). Importantly, the fundamental principles of infection prevention and control precautions continue to be essential.

Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Scotland and Public Health Scotland will update their associated guidance documents as soon as practically possible.  

Providers are recommended to implement the face mask guidance as soon as possible from 14 September, or earlier if they are ready to do so. The recommendations in the guidance will require discussions with staff and those receiving care and support before adoption. For some services, the changes may be able to be implemented fairly quickly while for others, it may take longer.

Scottish Government is working with Scottish Care to host a webinar regarding changes to face masks and testing within social care. This will be open to all staff within social care to ask any questions they may have about the guidance. The date will be circulated within networks once agreed.

Review of asymptomatic testing in health and social care

A review has taken place of the remaining regular asymptomatic testing in place for health and social care staff and in high-risk settings. Scottish Government will issue advice for health and social care in the week beginning 12 September. This will have updated guidance materials and an implementation date of the end of September. Until this guidance is issued, staff should continue to test as per Coronavirus (Covid-19): social care and community based testing guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).

Covid and flu vaccination – autumn/winter 2022

Vaccination and the protection it offers staff and those they care for and support is important.  The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has issued advice for the Winter Covid-19 and flu programme recommending those most at risk, or those who come into regular contact with those most at risk, become eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine dose to maximise their protection over winter. Where possible, this will be co-administered with the flu vaccine, which is a safe and effective way to deliver protection.

The online booking portal for frontline health and social care workers can be accessed, along with other information on the programme and eligibility, at Winter vaccines | NHS inform. The direct portal page link is Login - Customer Service (nhs.scot).

Carers who are aged 16+ are eligible for both Covid and flu vaccination this winter. The majority will be called for vaccination later in the programme, as part of the ‘at risk’ group. At this point, appointments can be booked on the portal or through the helpline for those who don’t have digital access. The only exception is that the over 65s will shortly be sent letters with timed appointments. In those letters, it will say that unpaid carers are eligible for vaccination and give instructions on how they can book. If someone they care for gets a letter, the carer can book their appointment from that time. 

Removal of notification requirement (Added 9 June 2022)

Early in the pandemic, we introduced a notification for providers to notify us if a service was closed due to the impact of Covid-19. While services are still dealing with the effects of the pandemic including a low level of infections, there are far fewer restrictions on how we live and impacts on the operation of care services.  In recognition of this, we have decided to remove the notification ‘Change of service delivery due to Covid-19’. Therefore, there is no requirement to notify us if a service is closed for a short time due to Covid-19.

We understand there are certain circumstances when services close for a period of time and can apply to be inactive for a period of up to 12 months. You can find the details of when this can be considered and how to apply here.

New guidance materials on Open with Care: Supporting Meaningful Contact in Adult Care Homes (Added 2 June 2022)

The Scottish Government has produced new guidance materials for Open with Care - Supporting Meaningful Contact in Adult Care Homes.  

These new documents build on best practice by care homes and have been developed in consultation with a range of people including care home provider representatives, Public Health Scotland, health and social care professionals, relatives, residents and the Care Inspectorate. They have been designed to provide information for different audiences, in as relevant a way as possible.

The purpose of this suite of documents is to:

  • update the Open with Care visiting guidance
  • set out principles and expectations for supporting people living in care homes to maintain connections
  • give an overview of the measures in place to support visiting, signposting to more detailed guidance where relevant. 

The guidance principles document should be should be read in conjunction with public health and infection prevention and control (IPC) guidance from Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Scotland (Winter Addendum) and Pubic Health Scotland guidance for care homes (see links in document).

To support communications, hard copies of the family leaflet will be issued to care homes by the end of June.

PHS Covid-19 - information and guidance for care home settings (for older adults) v.3 (Added 2 June 2022)

This guidance was updated on 31 May with one change: New staff or agency staff working in the care home: Agency staff are now advised to undertake a PCR test within the previous 7 days before starting in the care home (formerly 48 hours). Risk assessment considerations are included for care home management in situations where this may not be feasible including the use of LFD testing.

you can access the updated guidance here.

Variation changes for care homes and care at home extended to April 2023 (Added 7 April 2022)

Social care continues to face challenges as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and we continue to support the care sector by adapting what we do, when needed.

To support services to provide support to a wider group of people, there will continue to be no requirement for providers to submit a variation for any care service type where:

  • a care home for older people is caring for youngeradults or vice versa
  • care at home services care for clients with different careneeds
  • there is a change of operationalhours.

This will continue until April 2023.

In these circumstances, there is no requirement to submit a variation form. Instead, you should simply confirm in writing through eForms, using the notification ‘Changes to service delivery’.

Within the notification, you should note what the change is and confirm the service can meet people’s care and welfare needs.

The notification will not trigger an inspection but may trigger contact from the inspector to discuss the changes you have put in place.

For care homes that are supporting people on an interim basis until care at home is available in their area, there is no requirement to notify the Care Inspectorate. We will get this information from the oversight teams of homes being used in local areas. 

Coronavirus (Covid-19): adult care homes visiting guidance (Added 4 April 2022) 

The Scottish Government has updated guidance on visiting care homes during the pandemic plus tools and resources on visiting, and supporting residents in homes with Covid-19.

Clarification on asymptomatic testing for social care staff (Added 1 April 2022)

As soon as possible

The Scottish Government has advised that daily asymptomatic (work day) LFD testing will no longer be required and social care settings should revert back to their routine, baseline asymptomatic testing as soon as this is possible. This is either a weekly PCR or twice-weekly LFD (apart from adult care home staff who will continue to test with a weekly PCR and twice-weekly LFD).  

This approach to testing in social care has been informed by clinical advice and is subject to ongoing review. LFD tests are extremely effective at picking up the virus in asymptomatic individuals, specifically when they are most infectious and therefore more likely to pass it on to others. This is considered proportionate while still offering sufficient protection to those at highest risk.

From Monday 18 April 

The role of Covid-19 testing is changing from population wide testing, to targeted testing to support clinical care. The Scottish Government approach to testing in social care has been informed by clinical advice and is subject to ongoing review.

Based on this advice, regular asymptomatic testing will continue for parts of the health and care workforce. This is primarily in settings which are still considered high risk and/or where those using services are deemed to be at a higher risk of hospitalisation from Covid-19.

Testing will stop for staff groups in settings that are now deemed to be lower risk and/or in services which do not involve close personal care and contact or where clients are no longer at a higher risk of Covid-19.

For pathways/services continuing to test, we are moving away from using PCR testing (with the exception of adult care home staff) and asking staff to test twice weekly with LFD tests.

As stated, LFD tests are extremely effective at picking up the virus in asymptomatic individuals and specifically when they are most infectious and therefore more likely to pass it on to others.

Providers with excess LFD stock can pause their deliveries by calling the NSS helpline on 0800 008 6587.

For an overview of the social care asymptomatic pathways and changes in these pathways from Monday 18 April, click here.


Further information

Information is available on the NHS Inform website. The key messages for Scotland are:   

  • As part of the Scotland-wide, coordinated response to coronavirus, NHS 24 provides the most up to date information and advice here.  
  • NHS 24 has also set up a dedicated helpline for people who do not have coronavirus symptoms but are seeking information. The helpline number is 0800 028 2816 and is available Monday to Friday, 0800 to 1000, Saturday and Sunday, 0900 to 1700. 
  • People who have travelled to an affected area and have symptoms of a cough, fever or difficulty breathing should stay at home and phone their GP (family doctor), or call NHS 24 on 111 if their GP surgery is closed.
  • People with general questions are advised to visit www.nhsinform.scot/coronavirus in the first instance. This is the quickest and easiest way to get information and it also means that the 111 service is able to help those people with more immediate clinical need. NHSinform includes an interactive self-help guide where people can answer a few simple questions on line to assess whether they need to seek further help or advice by telephone.
  • There is a communications toolkit with information for health and care settings to download, share and print  – please be aware that this is updated as the situation develops so should be checked frequently. Please use the latest version in your setting and update if required. 

NHS 24 has active Twitter, Facebook and Instagram channels that are the official social feeds for Coronavirus in Scotland. You can follow these from the links below. 

Health Protection Scotland has also produced information and guidance which should be useful and this is updated at regular intervals.

The Scottish Government summary of response arrangements for coronavirus in Scotland can be found here.   

Other guidance

NHS Inform has published guidance leaflets and posters in a variety of different languages and easy-read format. You can download these from their website here.   

Downloads: 318508

Register care

Published: 06 October 2014

Message from the registration team - 2 February 2024

The Care Inspectorate aims to provide the highest quality and efficient service to providers or new applicants of care services through the registration and variation functions. We do this to enable care and support being available to people and communities. Currently the registration teams are experiencing an increased volume of registration and variation applications from across the care sector but particularly in adult care services. We are systematically working through the applications and undertaking routine checks where we can and allocating these to inspectors as soon as inspector capacity is available.

We appreciate that once you have submitted an application you will be keen to have your application progressed. Please be assured we will progress your application to an inspector as soon as we are able to do so. When you have submitted an application and we have not been able to allocate to an inspector we will contact you fortnightly to update you on the situation. Please be assured we will process your application as soon as we can.

Thank you for your understanding and patience with this during this challenging period.


If you want to operate a care service in Scotland you must, by law, register with the Care Inspectorate. 

What to expect from the registration process

You can apply to register a care service online, using our secure system.  The online application is simple to complete and only asks you questions that are relevant to your service type.

You can manage your application easily.  You can save it as you go and return to it later so you can complete and submit at your own pace.  You can go back to previous stages to check, change and add to your application.  The application allows you to upload supporting documents and pay your application fee.

We aim to assess applications for a childminding service within three months and all other services within six months.  However, this presumes that you supply us with a competent and fully detailed application, as well as any additional information we request.  It is in your interest to give us all the information we ask for in the application form to prevent any delays or the risk of us closing or refusing your application.

Once you have submitted your application, our national registration team will check:

  • the information you have given us
  • whether the provider is fit to provide the service
  • whether the manager is fit to manage the service
  • that the proposed premises are fit to be used for that purpose
  • that the service will make all the proper provisions for the health, welfare, independence, choice, privacy and dignity of everyone using the service.

We may also check the financial viability of the service.  Any information we ask for during the registration process is in accordance with the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

Before applying to register a service

Before you apply to register a care service you must make sure you have read and understood the associated guidance and legislation.  

Every registered care service must continuously meet the requirements of:

Before you apply, you should also read:

For more information read our guidance below:


For more information about registering a service (other than childminding) click here

For more information about registering a childminding service click here.


If you are unclear about the kind of service you want to apply for, click here to see the definitions of care services which must be registered with us.

For general advice about registering a care service you can contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For more specific queries, you can request pre-application advice.  Click here for guidance on how to do this.

Registered manager requirements

In response to feedback from services, the Care Inspectorate and the SSSC have amended the policy and guidance on the qualification requirements for managers of registered services.  New managers applying to become the Registered Manager with the Care Inspectorate are required to already hold a level 7 practitioner qualification.  This replaces the guidance issued in April this year that new managers must hold a level 9 manager qualification. 

Please note, the SSSC registration requirements remain unchanged.

Access the latest guidance here.

Fees

Care services must pay fees to be registered with us.  The maximum limit is set by Scottish Ministers.  The fees we collect contribute to our operating costs.  We charge a fee for registering a new service and an annual continuation fee.  The annual continuation fee licenses a care service to operate.

All application fees are non-returnable.

To find out more about our fees click here.

Apply to register a service 

Create an account to begin your application

Sign in to see an existing application

If you require the application form in an alternative format, please call our contact centre on 0345 600 9527.

Downloads: 314815

Fees

Published: 06 October 2014

Services must pay fees to be registered with us.  The maximum limit is set by Scottish Ministers.  The fees we collect contribute to our operating costs.

We charge a fee for registering a new service and an annual continuation fee.  The annual continuation fee licenses a care service to operate.

Download our fees table here

Annual continuation of registration fee

We will send an invoice each year for all your registered services.  The date of when we send the invoice depends on the date you first registered.  The table below helps you work out when your continuation fee will be due each following year:

Date of first registration Annual continuation fee due from
Between 1 April and 30 June 1 April
Between 1 July and 30 September 1 July
Between 1 October and 31 December 1 October
Between 1 January and 31 March 1 January

 If a service cancels part way through its fee year, we do not give a refund or discount.

Combined service discount

Separately registered services that operate from the same premises, sharing staff, management, policies and so on, are often referred to as ‘combined services’.  Combined services can be cheaper for us to administer.  If they are, we give a 15% discount on the smaller of their continuation fees.

The discount isn’t automatic and we must be confident that we can make a saving on their administration.  Combined service discounts will show on the smaller service’s continuation fee invoice.  If you think you may be entitled to a combined service discount, but there is no discount shown on your smaller service’s invoice, please contact your inspector.

We don’t normally give combined service discounts to fostering and adoption services.  We don’t give discounts to services where the continuation fee is less than £500.

Variation, addition or removal of condition(s) – No fees charged

Although we have set this fee at zero, you must still complete an application to add, vary or remove a condition of registration.  You can apply online through the digital portal. If this is not possible, call our Contact Centre on 0345 600 9527 for an application form.

New certificate fees – no charge

If we grant a variation to your registration, we will issue you with a new certificate of registration.  There is no charge for sending your certificate.

Cancellations – no charge

Like variation fees, we have set the cancellation fee at zero.  You can apply to cancel online through the digital portal. If this is not possible, call our Contact Centre on 0345 600 9527.

Unless we agree a shorter timescale, you must give us 3 months’ notice of your proposed cancellation.  We will consider your cancellation completed when you have returned all the necessary documentation and we have confirmed your cancellation.  If you are voluntarily cancelling a service in the period leading up to your annual continuation fee due date, make sure you don’t delay the process unnecessarily.

If you do not cancel your service before the annual continuation fee is due then it becomes payable in full.  The annual continuation fee is not discounted for services that only operate for part of a year.

How to pay Care Inspectorate fees

Credit/Debit Card

You can pay by credit or debit card online through the following link:  https://www.gov.uk/payments/care-inspectorate/continuation-fee

Direct Debit

You can pay by direct debit, either as a single payment or by 10 equal monthly instalments (only available if the fee is more than £100). 

Direct Debits are normally collected at these times:

Annual continuation due date

Single payment by

10 equal instalments
1 April 31 May from 31 May to 28 Feb
1 July 31 August from 31 Aug to 31 May
1 October 30 November from 30 Nov to 31 Aug
1 January 28 February from 28 Feb to 30 Nov

We do not fully control when the fees are set. We decide this in consultation with Scottish Government.  Because of this, collection dates and number of instalments may change.  If they do, we will let you know.   

If you wish to pay by Direct Debit, please download, print and complete the Direct Debit instruction adding your customer number and return it to us.

BACS

Royal Bank of Scotland, St Andrew Square, Edinburgh

Sort Code: 83-06-08
Account Number: 11580052
Account Name: Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland

Cheque/Postal Order

You may pay by either cheque or postal order, made payable to The Care Inspectorate, including the remittance advice on the foot of your invoice, at any Care Inspectorate office or by posting to:

Care Inspectorate, Finance – Income Section, Compass House,
11 Riverside Drive, Dundee, DD1 4NY.

Contact us

Please contact us if you have an enquiry about your invoice. Call us on 0345 603 6979 Monday to Friday 9am – 4pm, or write to us at: Care Inspectorate, Finance – Income Section, Compass House, 11 Riverside Drive, Dundee, DD1 4NY or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Fee Information

This can be found within the fee section of our website

Inactive services

Please note that although your service may be inactive, you will still be due to pay annual continuation fees.

 

Downloads: 266673

Inspections

Published: 06 October 2014

Infection prevention and control (IPC) standards published

Healthcare Improvement Scotland has published new IPC standards that apply to health and adult social care settings

The standards will act as a key component in the drive to reduce the risk of infections in health and social care in Scotland. They will support services to quality assure their IPC practice and approaches, and the IPC principles set out in the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual.

The Care Inspectorate will take account of the standards in our inspection and regulation of adult and older people’s care services including care homes.

The standards can be found here

Our approach to inspection and self-evaluation

In consultation with the social care sector, we have developed a self-evaluation and quality framework model based on the Scottish Government’s Health and Social Care Standards.  We have used this model to develop a suite of quality frameworks for different service types.

Our inspectors use quality frameworks to evaluate the quality of care during inspections and improvement planning. 

All our frameworks are available to download from the publications and statistics area or on The Hub.

The frameworks replace our previous practice of inspecting against themes and statements.  Inspectors will look select a number of quality indicators from a number of key questions to look at. 

Framework structure

The frameworks better reflect the Health and Social Care Standards and provides more transparency about what we expect. 

They set out key questions about the difference a care service makes to people’s wellbeing, and the quality of the elements that contribute to that. These include:

  • How well do we support people’s wellbeing?
  • How good is our leadership
  • How good is our staff team?
  • How good is our setting?
  • How well is our care and support planned?

Under each key question, there are three or four quality indicators, covering specific areas of practice. Each quality indicator has illustrations of what ‘very good’ quality would look like, and what ‘weak’ quality would look like. These illustrations are drawn from the Health and Social Care Standards but are not checklists or definitive descriptions. They are designed to help people understand the level of quality we are looking for.

A sixth question, ‘What is our overall capacity for improvement?’ is included in the framework to help care services in planning their improvement journey.

Each quality indicator includes a scrutiny and improvement toolbox.  This includes examples of how we might evidence the quality of care provided.  It also contains links to practice documents that will help services in their own improvement journey.

Key questions added as a result of Covid-19

In order to robustly assess  arrangements to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, our inspections are placing particular focus on infection prevention and control, wellbeing and staffing in care settings. 

We have developed a key question to augment our frameworks. We have done this to meet the duties placed on us by the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No. 2) Act and subsequent guidance that we must evaluate infection prevention and control and staffing.  

This means carry out targeted inspections that are short, focused and carried out with colleagues from Health Improvement Scotland and Health Protection Scotland, to assess care and support during the Covid-19 pandemic. We will continue to put the wellbeing for people experiencing care at the heart of our inspections.  

This additional key question has been added to our frameworks for:

  • Care homes for children and young people and school care accommodation (special residential schools)
  • Mainstream boarding schools and school hostels
  • Secure accommodation

Self-evaluation

The quality frameworks help services evaluate themselves. Self-evaluation is central to continuous improvement.  It enables care settings to reflect on what they are doing so they can recognise what they do well and identify what they need to do better.  We have published a guide to self-evaluation to support services in their improvement journey and a range of toolkits to support services undertake self-evaluation.

Where can I find out more?

The quality frameworks and key question 7's (KQ7s), and our inspection leaflet gives more information. 

Alternatively, you can contact your inspector, call us on 0345 600 9527 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

 

Downloads: 235178

Notifications and record keeping

Published: 06 October 2014

Large Scale Investigation Notifications

Since 2014, adult protection codes of practice have required that the Care Inspectorate is alerted to the occurrence of large scale investigations.

This is an expectation that is directed at Local Authorities and now, by extension, HSCPs.

Please notify us on the commencement of a large scale investigation here.

Please notify us of the completion of a large scale investigation here.

Notifications and record keeping 

By law all services must tell us immediately if certain events take place. 

  • Accidents, incidents or injuries
  • Outbreak of infectious disease
  • Death of person using a care service 
  • Allegations of abuse
  • Significant equipment breakdown
  • Allegation of misconduct by a provider or employee
  • Criminal convictions resulting in unfitness of a manager
  • A provider becoming unfit
  • Absence of manager
  • Planned refurbishment/alteration/extension of premises
  • Change of registration details
  • Person living at the registered premises

We have produced comprehensive guidance on the records you must keep and the notifications you must make (click on the links below).

Downloads: 222818

Register a childminding service

Published: 24 March 2015

Childminders must, by law, register with the Care Inspectorate. 

The legal definition of a childminder is a person who works with children for more than two hours a day in the childminder’s own home for reward.

We regulate childminders using the Health and Social Care Standards and the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

Before you apply to register as a childminder you should read: 

You can also visit The Hub, our ‘one-stop-shop’ website which has a wide range of resources aimed at supporting improvement in social care and social work by sharing intelligence and research-led practice.

What to expect from the registration process

You can now apply to register a care service online, using our new, secure system.  The online application is simple to complete and only asks you questions that are relevant to your service type.

You can manage your application easily.  You can save it as you go and return to it later so you can complete and submit at your own pace.  You can go back to previous stages to check, change and add to your application.  The new application allows you to upload supporting documents and pay your application fee.

Read our guidance for applicants on applying to register a care service and online registration application form - user guide before applying. 

Fees

The registration fee for a childminder is £28.00.  This must be paid before we can consider your application.  An annual continuation fee of £17.00 is also applied for every year that you are registered.  

All application fees are non-returnable.

Find out more about our fees.

Fire safety information

The Chief Fire Officer Association on behalf of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has produced guidance on the fire precautions childminders should take.

You should complete the following documents and return them to the relevant organisation when you are ready to do so.  As the checklist is a declaration that everything is in place you may wish to wait until later in the process to do this.

Membership of the PVG scheme and criminal records checks

You must pay an additional fee for the cost of a Protection of Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme record checks as appropriate.  We will determine from your application who this will be applicable to and be in contact with you to provide the relevant disclosure documentation.

You can find out more about the fees for PVG applications on the Disclosure Scotland website.

The Care Inspectorate must be a counter signatory to your own scheme record, and as such we require you to progress your PVG application through us.  Once we complete the first part of the PVG application, you’ll receive an email with a link to complete your section.

Please be aware that, in addition to the PVG check, the Care Inspectorate also run online searches of publicly available information.  If we have concerns about the information we find, we may contact Police Scotland.

Registering with Disclosure Scotland

For you to countersign PVG or disclosure checks for your staff or volunteers, you must be registered with Disclosure Scotland.  You can find out how to register with Disclosure Scotland on their website. You will have a number of responsibilities after your register, including:

  • following Disclosure Scotland's Code of Practice
  • referring individuals to Disclosure Scotland when harmful or potential harmful behaviour and you dismiss the person as a result (or would or might have done had they not otherwise left).

You can also use an umbrella body to countersign PVG or disclosure checks on behalf of your organisation.  A list of umbrella bodies is available on the Disclosure Scotland website.

Contact Disclosure Scotland if you need help:

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 0300 020 0040
Monday to Thursday: 9am to 4pm
Friday: 9am to 3:30pm

What happens next?

Once we have received your completed application and all the documentation we have asked you for, and you have paid the fee, we will contact you.  We aim to assess applications for a childminding service within three months and all other services within six months.  However, this presumes that you supply us with a competent and fully detailed application, as well as any additional information we request.  It is in your interest to give us all the information we ask for in the application form to prevent any delays or the risk of us closing or refusing your application.

Once you have submitted your application form our national registration team will assess and check:

  • that the information you give us in the application form is appropriate and comprehensive
  • that the correct fee has been paid
  • whether you are fit to provide and manage the service
  • if your premises (where the service is to be provided) is fit to be used for that purpose
  • that the proposed service will make all the proper provisions for the health, welfare, independence, choice, privacy and dignity of everyone using the service.

We may also check the financial viability of the service.  Any information we ask for during this process is in accordance with the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

Successful registration

If your registration is successful, we will confirm this and also provide you with a certificate of registration, (electronically via our eForm portal), detailing the conditions of registration.  You should print the certificate and display it so that anyone who uses your service can read it.  The conditions of registration are also available on our care service list.

You will also see a list of records that you must keep and a list of notifications that you must make to the Care Inspectorate within our eForms portal.  See our guidance on records childminding services must keep and guidance on notification recording.

Decisions on an application to register a service

Following an application for registration, under Section 59(1) of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 ("the Act"), the Care Inspectorate can in terms of

s60(1):

  • grant the application unconditionally, s60(1)
  • grant the application subject to conditions, s60(2)
  • refuse the application, s60(1).

If we propose to refuse your registration, or to grant registration subject to conditions that have not been agreed in writing, we must give you notice of our proposal to do so.  Such a notice, where sent by post, is deemed (by section 101 of the Act) to be received on the third day after the day it was posted. 

If you wish to dispute any matters, you must do this in writing within 14 days.  The notice of proposal will state where these must be addressed to.

If we propose to refuse registration, or to grant registration subject to conditions that have not been agreed in writing, you have a right of appeal to the sheriff.  This right is set out at section 75 of the Act.  Any appeal must be made within 14 days (17 days if we have sent this in the post). 

The Scottish Childminding Association

The Scottish Childminding Association is an organisation dedicated to supporting childminders in Scotland.  From helping you with your application to register, to offering courses to help you keep up with latest developments in childcare, you can get lots of helpful advice and information.  Visit their website or call them on 01786 445377.

Create an account to begin your application

Sign in to see an existing application 

If you need the application form in an alternative format, please call our contact centre on 0345 600 9527.

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Annual returns

Published: 06 October 2014

This year's annual returns are now closed. We would like to thank everyone who submitted their annual return to us by the deadline, Sunday 17 March 2024. The information you have provided will help us plan, inform and carry out our inspections and improvement work.

Each year, we ask service providers to complete an annual return to help us plan, inform and carry out our inspections and improvement work. 

We also publish a number of annual statistical publications and share some of the information with other organisations, such as the Scottish Social Services Council and the Scottish Government.

The intelligence we gather through annual returns helps us target our improvement activity and support within social care. It is a great source of baseline data across a variety of health and wellbeing indicators which we use to identify, drive and track improvement, for example infection control, nutrition and the recruitment and retention of staff.  The data also helps us to identify trends and topics by both geographical area or service type, so that we can see where best to focus our improvement support work, for example, improvement workshops or new resources and guidance for care services across the sector.

Based on feedback we have received from providers and their representative groups about the pressures and challenging context that the sector is currently facing, we have extended the annual return submission period for an additional four weeks. We understand these challenges and are committed to supporting services as much as we can.  As part of this, we hope this extension will allow more time for this work to be undertaken. 

All service types must complete their annual returns electronically, using our eForms system. It is important that services regularly check their eForms account to make sure that their email address is up to date, and that only authorised people have access to their account. All services should check their eForms email address.

Even inactive services must submit an annual return.

We no longer automatically downgrade services for failing to submit an annual return. This is because we do not believe that non-submission is necessarily a reflection of poor quality of service. We will, however, continue to publish details about submission or non-submission of annual returns within inspection reports. We also reserve the right to make a formal requirement relating to submission of an annual return, or in cases of serious or persistent non-compliance, to issue an improvement notice under s62 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, requiring its submission.

Please note that where the manager of the service has changed, you must formally notify the Care Inspectorate of the correct details. This can be done using our online digital portal.  

Related documents

If you have any questions about the annual returns, please read our frequently asked questions.

Find out what has changed in the 2023-24 annual return.

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