What we have done since our last briefing in September 2023

We have been working alongside the four areas that came forward to be part of more detailed work.

• Aberdeen city
• Dundee city
• Dumfries and Galloway
• Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)

We now have staff survey responses from these four areas.  We have reviewed these alongside all the evidence we gathered earlier this year from the national survey and our review of existing literature.

This has helped us develop our understanding of social work’s contribution to upholding the rights of disabled children and young people in Scotland. 

We have used our findings so far to help us plan our next steps and inform the key questions we will ask children, families and staff.

Our stakeholder community has continued to be involved, helping to shape our approach to engagement activities.   

Planning for our next steps is well underway in the four areas and we are grateful for all the time and effort they have already given to this review. 

Next steps

We are now entering the busiest stage of our review and will be working with our four areas on the following.

In January we will be reviewing 30 children’s social work’s records in each of the areas.  This will help us build our understanding of the effectiveness of assessments, plans and reviews in ensuring children benefit from the right help and the right time.  These records have been sampled randomly.

In January we will ask each of the four areas to share a video and information leaflet with children and their parents or carers to inform them of our review and invite them to become involved.

Between 22 January and 29 February we will open an electronic questionnaire for children and young people to complete online.  This will be one of a range of ways we will gather views directly from children and young people.  The arrangements for completing the questionnaire will be shared by each of the four local authorities.

In February we will be on-site in each of the four areas.  We want to gather the views of children and their parents or carers and the staff who work with them.  We will meet with children wherever they are most comfortable.  For some children this might be with friends or family.  For others it might be alongside workers who are important to them.  We hope the important people in children’s lives will help us to do this.  We will work alongside staff in each of the four areas to ensure we are inclusive and respect children’s rights in our approach.

If you have any questions for the review team, they can be contacted via email on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We’d like to thank everyone who has been involved in this review.