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Shout out to carers

Published: 01 June 2020
Downloads: 3244
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Staff survey

Published: 31 July 2019

Inspectors use a survey  to gather the views of all staff who work directly with children and young people at risk of harm, about the difference that services are making to their lives and how they are being helped to achieve positive outcomes. In addition to the staff survey, we will invite children and young people, as well as parents and carers, to complete surveys to gather their views about their experiences of services.

CPPs are asked to distribute the staff survey directly to their staff and the Care Inspectorate will provide a link to this at the briefing for partners about the inspection process. The survey takes around 15 - 20 minutes to complete and is aimed at those people who work with children at risk of harm and their families, including health visitors, school nurses, doctors, teachers, social workers, police officers, and staff working in the voluntary and independent sector.

Staff do not have to provide their name, just their current occupation/professional role and job type. Three weeks are allocated for its completion and the analysis of the results are subsequently shared with the CPP.

 

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Staffing schedules

Published: 18 January 2019

The Care Inspectorate has traditionally issued a staffing schedule to relevant service types at the point of registration.  This is a historical practice that has continued from previous regulatory bodies.  The issuing of staffing schedules has been reviewed over the years, but the practice of some service types having a staffing schedule remains.  We have recognised that the majority of staffing schedules in place do not reflect the changing needs of people who currently use the service. In a time of great change across the care sector, we want to promote innovation and also ensure people experiencs high-quality care and support that is tailored to their needs, rights and choices.  High-quality staffing that responds dynamically to people’s needs is essential for this.

We recognise that staffing schedules are prescriptive and that they merely set a minimum standard based on numbers and general assumptions around the needs of the residents at the point of registration, which may have changed significantly since then.  The staffing schedules are based on the assumption that services operating at full occupancy.  They do not take account of changes in residents’ dependency and capabilities, either among long-standing residents or new people coming to live in the home.

Consequently, we have taken the decision to move away from issuing staffing schedules to enable providers to apply judgement and flexibility in demonstrating how they meet the requirements of the relevant regulation (SSI 210 (15) Staffing) which states that:

‘A provider must, having regard to the size and nature of the care services, the statement of aims and objectives and the number and needs of service users…ensure that at all times suitably qualified and competent persons are working in the care service in such numbers as are appropriate for the health, welfare and safety of service users.’

We will however retain the discretion to impose conditions about staffing, or any other matter, on any individual care service where that is necessary to ensure people experience high quality care.

The legal framework under which services operate is quite clear that the responsibility for assessing staffing according to need lies with the provider of a care service.  The Scottish Regulators’ Strategic Code of Practice requires us to be proportionate in our approach and we believe that the safety, health and wellbeing of people who experience care can be enhanced without the issuing of fixed staffing notices at the point of registration.

The removal of staffing schedules will also remove reference to the management arrangements, however Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) 210: Regulation 17 (1) (c) – Appointment of Manager states: “A provider who is not, or does not intend to be, in full time day-to-day charge of the care service must appoint an individual to manage the service”.  We expect this regulation to be complied with and to see the management arrangements detailed in the aims and objectives for each individual service.

With the removal of staffing schedules, our scrutiny methodology will help provide assurance that the provider has systems in place to assess people’s dependency, regularly and as their needs change.  Providers will be required to maintain a daily record of the staffing level and skill mix which results from a dynamic process in relation to the assessment of need and capability.

Quality Indicator 3.3 in the new quality framework for care homes for older people states: ‘Staffing levels are right and staff work well together’.  Inspectors can and will evaluate providers systems and processes against this indicator to ensure that there are positive outcomes for people who receive services.  We strongly encourage providers to ensure this is part of their self-evaluation and quality assurance systems also.

This approach reflects the Care Inspectorate’s broader shift towards outcomes-focused regulation which seeks to ensure that care and support is responsive to people’s individual needs.  Providers of care and support have a clear responsibility to provide effective staffing, and we will continue to ensure through our scrutiny work that this is happening.

From 1 September 2018 we will no longer issue staffing schedules for new registrations.  A letter and variation template will be sent to all existing providers for services who have staffing schedules.  Between January and 31 March 2019 we will process variations for all providers who return a completed variation template.

It may take some time to complete variations for all relevant registered services.  We are therefore unable to give a timescale for completion of individual applications; however, we will endeavour to complete variations as quickly as possible.

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Statistics and analysis

Published: 13 March 2015

We collect a wide range of statistical information about Scotland's care services.  We collect this to help us regulate services.  We also use this information to produce statistical overviews of the service types we regulate.  

We include data in our annual report and accounts, annual childcare statistics and the periodic, state-of-the-nation reports we produce.

Use the following links to find the publication you are looking for:

Childcare Statistics

Quarterly Statistical Summary Report

You can find our reports in our publications and statistics area.

Childcare Statistics

The Childcare Statistics detail the provision and use of registered daycare of children and childminding services in Scotland.  These are updated on an annual basis.  Below are links to the annual reports since 2010.

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report

The Quarterly Statistical Summary Report publication presents data on the number of registered care services, care service registrations and cancellations, complaints against care services received, registered and completed and quality theme grades all by care service type and or service sector. 

Full reports are available for download in Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf) and Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) format.  In addition, the data tables are available in non-proprietary Comma Separated Values (CSV) format, individually.  The provision of the data in these formats is intended to facilitate its analysis and re-use.

All content is available under the Open Government License, unless otherwise stated.  More information on this license is available at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Our Intelligence Team compile and manage the information within the Quarterly Statistical Summary Report.

For help using this or any queries relating to its content or use then please email us This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 4 (2023/24)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 3 (2023/24)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 2 (2023/24)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 1 (2023/24)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 4 (2022/23)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 3 (2022/23)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 2 (2022/23)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 1 (2022/23)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 4 (2021/22)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 3 (2021/22)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 2 (2021/22)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 1 (2021/22)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 4 (2020/21)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 3 (2020/21)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 2 (2020/21)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 1 (2020/21)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 4 (2019/20)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 3 (2019/20)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 2 (2019/20)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 1 (2019/20)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 4 (2018/19)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 3 (2018/19)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 2 (2018/19)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 1 (2018/19)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 4 (2017/18)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 3 (2017/18) - Revised

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 3 (2017/18)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 2 (2017/18)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 1 (2017/18)

Care Inspectorate Quarterly Statistical Summary Report - Quarter 4 (2016/17)

 

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Staying up to date and getting in touch

Published: 01 June 2020
Downloads: 4669
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Strategic scrutiny and assurance

Published: 13 April 2022

Who we are

The Care Inspectorate’s strategic inspection team sits in the Scrutiny and Assurance Directorate. We focus on the scrutiny, assurance and improvement of services provided by local authority social work services and partnerships. We look at services for children and families, adults and older people and people involved with the justice system. We explore how adults’ and children’s rights are promoted and upheld, the extent to which they are enabled to exercise choice and control in how their support is provided, and the outcomes they experience.

Click on the links below to read more:

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Support for improvement

Published: 31 July 2019

The Care Inspectorate’s link inspector arrangements for each local authority area serve six main purposes.  These are:

  • monitoring the performance and quality of social work services;
  • monitoring the performance of the partnership’s public protection arrangements;
  • identifying factors which are supporting social work services to deliver good or improved outcomes and any barriers;
  • highlighting risks to the above and their potential impact;
  • identifying good practice within social work service and disseminating these more widely;
  • supporting partners efforts to build capacity for continuous improvement.

Following each joint inspection, the link inspector continues to work with the CPP with an appropriate level of focus on improvement activity recorded in the CPP’s action plan.  Where necessary, they will provide support and challenge in agreed activities and/or signpost CPPs to appropriate sources of assistance.  This may include support from other scrutiny bodies.

When a partnership’s performance in key areas of practice has been evaluated as either ‘weak’ or ‘unsatisfactory’, the Care Inspectorate and partners may conduct progress review inspection activity to provide assurance that effective action is being taken by the CPP to reduce risks and address areas of concern. In these circumstances the intention and timescale for follow-up scrutiny will be recorded in the published report.

Where the findings of the inspection identify significant concerns, the link inspector may have a more formal monitoring role to provide senior managers in the Care Inspectorate and scrutiny partners with assurance that appropriate action is being taken to address weaknesses.

 

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Downloads: 12763
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Temporary changes to variations during Covid-19

Published: 07 April 2022

Variation changes for care homes and care at home extended to April 2023

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.  

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