The Care Inspectorate has today published the first annual report on restrictive practices used in Scotland’s residential childcare settings.
The report sets out data on recorded incidents of physical restraint and seclusion notified to the Care Inspectorate by residential care services for children and young people.
One of the recommendations of The Promise related to the recording and reporting of both restraint and seclusion. This recommendation was made with the intention of better understanding how often these restrictive practices are used, and monitoring the progress towards stopping them.
The Care Inspectorate collects data from Scottish care services on the use of restraint and restrictive practices and supports those services to work towards meeting The Promise recommendations.
Jackie Irvine, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate said: “Scotland is, rightly, striving to become a country where no child or young person has their liberty unnecessarily restricted.
“We are committed to upholding and promoting human rights and the rights of the child.
“These rights may only be restricted as a last resort, including in the use of restraint.
“We understand that the reasons young people come to be looked after in residential childcare are complex, and will be informed by an assessment of risk and need.
“We accept that this combination of risk and need will mean there may be occasions where it is necessary to place certain restrictions on a child or young person to keep them, and or other people, safe and well.
“The use of restrictive practices, including physical restraint, must be considered within a context of practitioners having a duty of care, and taking protective action to keep young people safe.
“In publishing these statistics, we aim to provide greater transparency on the direction of travel for the sector, young people experiencing care, and other interested stakeholders.”
Notes to editors
At 31 December 2023, there were 408 services providing residential care and support for children and young people across Scotland.
Of these, 346 were care home services for children and young people, 32 were school care accommodation services (special residential schools) and four were secure accommodation services.
There were 6,331 incidents of physical restraint and 729 incidents of seclusion in 2023.
Because of changes to the way data has been collected it is not possible to report reliable time series data in today’s report.
Rather, the December 2023 data is a baseline for future reports.