The Care Inspectorate has now published its final report following the review of social work governance and assurance across Scotland.
The review took place between July and December 2024 and sought to answer the following question.
How well do social work governance and assurance arrangements support leaders to:
- Ensure statutory duties are carried out safely and effectively?
- Enable social work staff to be supported, accountable and effective in their practice?
- Assist social work staff to uphold core social work values?
We looked at all areas of statutory social work including adults, children and justice social work services across all local authority areas in Scotland.
We heard from
- 32 chief social work officers
- 64 senior leaders at head of service or equivalent level
- 159 operational managers
- 8 chief officers of health and social care partnerships
- 8 local authority chief executives
- 3,935 staff who responded to our survey
- Reviewed 1032 documents
Key Messages
Our review found that
- Overall, social work leaders and managers worked effectively within often complicated governance arrangements. In most cases these arrangements were well understood by staff.
- Levels of oversight and assurance were enhanced by dedicated ‘social work governance boards’ or their equivalent.
- Social work influence was at times more limited within health and social care partnerships where it had a less equal level of representation.
- The role of the chief social work officer was important in promoting and amplifying the voice of social work.
- Staff, managers and leaders felt confident to promote and uphold values within social work services. There was a strong belief in the importance of social work values to support ethical practice.
- Overall social work assurance was mostly effective.
- Social work services were managing significant levels of risk relating to financial and staffing resources. The impact of both of these risks was amplified in island and rural settings.
- Overall, staff were supported to deliver effective services.
- Most social work staff benefitted from appropriate professional supervision arrangements and received learning and development opportunities which supported them to deliver their role.
High level messages for national consideration
- Scotland’s social work services were finding the ability to match supply with demand exacerbated by increased levels of complexity. This meant that social work was at risk of being unable to fulfil its statutory duties in some service areas.
- Staff were concerned that traditional relationship-based practice was being replaced by ‘transactional’ or ‘episodic’ engagement with people and children who use services. This was particularly the case within adult social work.
- A national approach is required to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis. Social work sustainability is particularly impacted by the enduring financial position. Change is needed to support the vital role of social work services.
We would like to thank everyone who participated in the review.
Our review report was published on 6 May 2025. You can read the full report below.