Senior Improvement Adviser - AHP
Location: Any Care Inspectorate office
Salary: £48,453-£53,502
Hours: 35 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
About the role
We are looking for a colleague with a strong background in a variety of health and social work roles and a passion in quality improvement to join the new Health and Social Care Improvement Team (HSCIT) on a permanent basis.
Reporting to the AHP Consultant but working closely with the Care Inspectorate’s Chief Nurse, under the umbrella of Improvement Support and with close collaboration with Scrutiny and Assurance the post holder will provide specialist skills and knowledge in AHP with a focus on falls, frailty, rehabilitation and reablement.
You will work internally to strengthen the capability and confidence of inspectors across inspection, complaints, and registration teams, in specific topic areas, supporting their learning and development and keeping the evidence base of practice current and develop resources to support the health and wellbeing of people experiencing care for use both internally and externally.
You will build and develop strategic partnerships across the health and social care landscape to support the delivery of health and wellbeing improvement advice and quality improvement support.
About you
Educated to degree level in a relevant field, registered with the aligned professional body together with the NES Scottish Improvement Leader (ScIL) programme (or willingness to work towards), or an equivalent improvement qualification, you will have significant immediate influence in working across the health or social care sector. You will also work strategically across several organisations.
You will have significant specialist subject matter expertise and be able to combine it with an understanding of quality improvement theory/change management and its practical application in health and social care settings.
Current work delivery methods will be timely reviewed against the Covid-19 national position and public health guidance. Whenever face to face work activities recommence, the role may require extensive travel and involve some overnight stays and unsocial hours.
To apply
You’ll find more information in the:
For an informal chat please contact Heather Edwards, AHP Consultant on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please download and complete an application form, (and equal opportunities form where you are an external applicant), and submit it by email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 8am on Monday 31 May 2021.
Interviews for this role are anticipated to take place on either 15 or 16 June through MS Teams.
Improvement Support Officer – Quality Improvement Support Team
Job Title: Improvement Support Officer – Quality Improvement Support Team
Salary: £30,495 - £31,740
Hours: 35 hours per week
Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)
Contract: Temporary to 17 March 2026
About us
We are the independent scrutiny and improvement support body for social care and social work services in Scotland. We provide assurance for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is for world-class social care and social work in Scotland, where everyone in every community experience high-quality care, support, and learning, tailored to their rights, needs, and wishes.
We inspect individual care services, and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.
Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, which enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards the expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week.
About the role
To backfill a secondment, we are looking for an Improvement Support Officer to join the Quality Improvement Support Team (QIST).
The QIST team provides specialist quality improvement knowledge and skills to the social care workforce, provider groups and Care Inspectorate colleagues. We support, educate, and enable others to improve how they help people who experience care in Scotland. Working collaboratively is key to how we work, whether that work is universal, targeted or specialist.
Our wide-ranging experience of quality improvement helps us to have meaningful conversations with all partners. Using the Model for Improvement, including PDSA cycles, we enable services to develop, implement and reflect on their change projects.
We work collaboratively with our Scrutiny and Assurance colleagues to ensure that improvements are made alongside existing inspection frameworks and services’ own self-evaluation processes.
This role requires a high level of engagement with the Health and Social Care Improvement team and other associated improvement projects, our inspectors, service providers, external partners as well as stakeholders from across the organisation.
The purpose of the role is to provide effective high-quality projects and business support to the QIST team. The role supports the implementation of improvement approaches to support the Care Inspectorate’s improvement strategy, which is aligned to the Corporate Plan. Also, to support the delivery and implementation of QIST improvement work, ensuring the needs of all customers are met in a consistent, efficient, and effective manner.
About you
The successful candidate will be educated to SCQF level 5 (for example, credit standard grade, national 5, skills for work national 5, national certificate, national progression award, modern apprenticeship or SVQ) or have relevant skills and experience in administration or business support. The ideal candidate will have a suitable qualification in administration and business studies at SCQF level 6 or greater.
You’ll be an excellent communicator, highly organised and able to plan and manage your time and work streams efficiently and effectively. In addition, you’ll understand that priorities and deadlines can change quickly, and you’ll respond flexibly and effectively. You’ll be confident in using your own initiative and keen to support the QIST team to continually improve. Your attention to detail is meticulous and you’ll have a clear commitment to maintaining high standards.
The preferred candidate will be a great team worker and nurture good working relationships. Excellent word processing and IT skills with experience of Microsoft applications are needed as well as diary management and minute taking.
This post will give the opportunity for the post holder to learn more about quality improvement methodology and support the wider quality improvement activities of the team, such as improvement workshops, webinars, and projects. There will also be the opportunity to undertake a quality improvement qualification appropriate to the role.
Next steps
You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.
If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role, please contact: Louise Kelly Senior Improvement Adviser on 078 258 42156 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
If you believe that your skills, experience and motivation make you a suitable candidate for this post, please complete an application form and return it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 08.00 on Monday 24 June 2024. Potential candidates must also fill in this equal opportunities monitoring survey.
The selection for this post will include an interview and a skills exercise. It will be held online using Teams on Thursday 11 July 2024.
A few changes to visiting made all the difference – a care home manager shares their experience
A few changes to visiting made all the difference – a care home manager shares their experience
On a recent call with my inspector, we were discussing how my service was managing visiting – it has been stressful trying to achieve a good balance between supporting and encouraging good quality visiting while keeping our residents as safe from Covid as possible. I was disappointed when she highlighted that our visiting arrangements were too rigid and not in line with guidance, but she was supportive and encouraging and I came away with some really constructive and practical advice.
We’ve now made some changes based on our inspector’s advice and I’m so glad we did. With some simple adjustments, we’ve really improved the visiting experience for residents and their loved ones. It feels better for me and my staff too; being able to make visiting more welcoming, homely and accessible is helping us make a positive difference for residents and that’s something we’re really passionate about.
I’d like to share a few key highlights of the changes we made.
- The booking system has been removed, with only a request from families to notify us if possible, prior to the visit so we can ensure the resident is not busy in another activity when they arrive.
- We have created an additional visiting area downstairs so that two visits can take place in a communal visiting area at the same time if the family/residents are not keen on a visit in the bedroom.
- We will be offering one of the toilets at the main entrance as a primary visitor toilet with further enhanced cleaning in place.
- We have removed the need to distance or wear a mask outdoors in line with the guidance too and reduced the social distance back to 1m indoors (not overtly marked in any way, just subtle and homely positioning of the chairs).
- Children were always allowed to visit indoors and outdoors for some time now, but we hadn’t made that clear – we have made sure everyone is aware of this now.
- We had been encouraging outings, but we are now highlighting that these can be to local cafes or to the relative’s household for a visit and so on.
- We are ensuring that any risk assessments we undertake now demonstrate less rigidity and a greater level of warmth.
I also had a person-centred discussion around visiting with one family that had raised concerns to discuss all the changes we were making and answer any queries. It was a really productive and positive discussion. Not long after, they came to visit their loved one and brought their daughter and two grandchildren too. They all went for an outdoor visit to the loch and the play park together since it was a quite bright and mild day. I spoke to them afterwards and they were very complimentary, saying “We had a wonderful time. It was the best visit we have had since Covid began. Mum was on great form”. (We always encourage staff to engage a resident in a person-centred stimulating activity pre-visit so the resident is able to engage really well during a visit or video call and the resident had been playing Simon Says with the staff and also had a short walk in the garden for some fresh air before the family arrived, which hopefully helped her engage well on the visit.)
I encourage fellow care home managers and providers to get in touch with your inspector if you’re concerned about visiting. I was met with positivity, encouragement and constructive advice, and with a few quick fixes, we were able to make a big difference.
Inspection Planning Manager - Workforce Planning and Data
Job title: Inspection Planning Manager – Workforce Planning and Data
Salary: £38,553 - £42,597
Hours: 35 hours per week
Location: Flexible (Any Care Inspectorate office)
Contract: Temporary for up to 12 months
About the role
Due to a period of absence, a temporary vacancy has arisen within our Planning Team. In this demanding and challenging role, you will manage and co-ordinate the delivery of national inspection planning across a wide range of social care services and services for children and adults to ensure that the Care Inspectorate makes the best use of its resources and performs effectively and efficiently as an independent scrutiny and improvement body.
This will include the management, co-ordination of inspection activities and national and team plans for the current year and draft plans for subsequent years, ensuring inspection planning activities are consistent with the Care Inspectorate’s objectives and targets.
About us
We are the national regulator and scrutiny body responsible for providing assurance and protection for people who experience care services, their families, carers and the wider public, as well as supporting delivery partners to improve the quality of care for people in Scotland. Our vision is that people across Scotland experience high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices.
We are a scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect individual care services and we also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in their local areas.
Our desire is to achieve an effective and balanced way of working, that enables us to meet organisational needs and achieve a work-life balance that promotes wellbeing and collaboration opportunities. We are moving towards an expectation that all staff will work collaboratively, within and across teams, in person, for approximately 40% of their working week.
About you
The successful applicant will have an operational background in workforce planning activities, systems and processes, together with workload planning and prioritisation knowledge.
You will be educated to SCQF Level 5 and, ideally hold a relevant qualification at SCQF Level 6 or 7. You will have excellent communication skills and be able to demonstrate a broad level of knowledge of working within inspection/regulation of care and associated IT systems, such as Work Management Tools, Microsoft Excel and Power BI, alongside the ability to translate plans into action.
Next steps
You’ll find more information in the job profile and person specification.
If you would like more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Deborah Holyroyd at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please include a contact telephone number and times that would be best to reach you in your email.
If you believe that you are a suitable candidate for this post, please complete our online application form by 08:00 on Monday 17 June 2024*.
It is anticipated that interviews will be held at either our Dundee or Stirling office on 26 June 2024.
Personal Assistant to the Interim Executive Director of Transformation, ICT & Digital
Location: Dundee
Salary: £22,425 - £23,964
Contract: Temporary until 31 March 2022 – potential for extension
About the role
The Care Inspectorate is a scrutiny body that supports improvement in care. Our vision is that people across Scotland receive high quality care that meets their needs, rights and choices. We are a national organisation, employing in excess of 600 staff working across our network of offices and from home.
Reporting to the Executive Support Officer, you will be responsible for providing an efficient and effective confidential tailored support service to the interim Director of Transformation, ICT and Digital.
This role will include organising and preparing documents, preparation of meeting papers and taking minutes for specific directorate meetings together with composing routine correspondence, diary management and arranging travel and accommodation. In addition, you will be required to develop and administer a system for dealing with enquiries, recording, acknowledging receipt of and re-directing letters and monitoring progress of responses with limited direction.
You will be an excellent organiser and communicator with proactive and friendly inter-personal skills together with a multi-tasking ability and flexible approach, working well under pressure to meet tight deadlines.
You will have excellent word processing and IT skills with experience of Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) and experience of diary management and minute taking.
You can find out more about the role in the person specification, job profile and job advert.
Next steps
If you believe that your expertise and motivation make you suitable for this post, please complete an application and return by email to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by 8am on Wednesday 14 April 2021. Interviews will be held by Teams video call on Wednesday 21 April 2021.
If you require any further information, or for an informal chat, please contact Claire Corbett (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Please note that initially you will be required to work from home due to the current covid situation.
Registrations
Time limited conditions expiration (Added 25 September 2020)
We are aware that many of you will have time limited conditions that were applied to your existing registration, to allow you to provide care services in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of these time limited conditions will be due to expire soon. We would like to remind you that if you wish to extend or amend the previous agreement (as detailed in the time limited condition), you are required to submit a variation for assessment.
This can be done through eForms.
If you no longer require the time limited condition, and wish for this to be removed from your registration certificate, please submit a variation for its removal.
Deferment of continuation of Registration Fees (added 8 April 2020)
The Care Inspectorate and Scottish Government recognise the financial and other pressures that providers of care services are currently under. To support service providers and assist with alleviating cash flow problems service providers are encountering at this difficult time the Care Inspectorate will delay the collection of continuation of registration fees due by care services until July 2020. We will review this position again in June 2020 before any fee collections are made.
This will mean care service providers need not pay any balance of the fees due for the 2019/20 financial year until July 2020.
Service providers normally due to receive fee invoices in April 2020 will not receive an invoice for the 2020/21 financial year until July 2020 (position subject to review in June 2020).
We are happy to make arrangements with service providers that would prefer not to defer the balance of 2019/20 fees. We are issuing more detailed guidance directly to care service providers.
Staffing in services during coronavirus outbreak (updated 20 March 2020)
Child to adult ratios feature in our registration and inspection of early learning and childcare (ELC). However, for other service types, including care homes, the Care Inspectorate stopped issuing staffing schedules at the point of registering a service in 2018. Instead, we expect the staffing numbers, and skills and experience of staff to reflect the needs of people who use services.
At this extremely challenging time, we will support all services in their need to apply flexibility and judgement around staffing to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people using the service. We recognise that services will need to be creative and make use of a wider range of resources. This could potentially include staff from other public services and volunteers. We recognise that this will mean services may not be able to undertake all normal recruitment checks as quickly and easily as they did before.
However, during this period it is important that providers put in place structures to support and oversee staff in their role, including any volunteers and unregistered staff. The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) is responsible for registering the social care workforce. People can work in registrable roles for a period of 12 months without being registered, which enables services to adopt a flexible approach.
This highlights the six-month period after starting work to obtain registration. This applies to:
- new staff you might recruit
- workers covering other roles due to staff shortages
- students who seek work to help with shortages.
Archived updates (2022)
Changes to Covid-19 guidance for adult and older people care homes (Added 31 March)
The Scottish Government has written to services with updates to guidance for Adult and Older People care homes following a review of remaining pandemic recommendations.
All guidance will continue to be kept under review. It is anticipated that the remaining protective measures such as self-isolation periods for residents (cases and contacts), and restrictions on care home visits by community groups will be reviewed again in April.
You can read the letter here.
We are aware that the information we released in a provider update yesterday (31 March) regarding asymptomatic testing for social care staff has caused some confusion.
We stated that all changes were to take place from Monday 18 April. The below text is a clarification to explain which changes should be undertaken as soon as it is possible and which changes will take place from 18 April.
Letter to all registered childcare providers and childminders (Added 29 March)
The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all registered childcare providers and childminders with information on:
- How to watch last Thursday’s event on the updated guidance and testing programme;
- How practitioners can provide input to a forthcoming event on vaccination;
- A point of clarification on the use of refillable cleaning products.
Updated Guidance for childcare settings regarding Covid-19 (Added 17 March)
The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all all registered childcare providers and childminders with an update on a unified approach across chldcare settings regarding routine protective measures and testing.
Childcare Sector Omicron Impacts Fund (Added 11 February)
On 10 February 2022 the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy announced a further round of financial support for sectors of the economy impacted by the Omicron variant. This package of support includes a new £6.5 million Childcare Sector Omicron Impacts Fund to provide one-off grants to the childcare sector this financial year.
The Scottish Government has issued a letter with more information.
Letter to all registered childcare providers and childminders (Added 4 February)
The Scottish Government has issued a letter to all all registered childcare providers and childminders with an update on the following:
- ELC Covid safety guidance suite
- Testing and Vaccination Communications Toolkit
- LFD Kits: Orders and Deliveries
- Fact-sheet on the self-isolation policy for contacts of positive Covid cases aged under 5 (Annex A)
- Publication of the Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) (Scotland) Bill.
Changes to self-isolation and visiting for adult care homes (Added 20 January)
The Scottish Government has reviewed policy with Public Health Scotland and ARHAI Scotland and made updates outlined in a letter to the sector.
In summary, the updates are:
- Self-isolation periods for residents who are contacts of Covid-19 positive case or are themselves Covid-19 positive has now changed from 14 days to 10 days.
- Precautionary 14 days self-isolation of residents following discharge from hospital to a care homes has now been removed for residents on the non-respiratory pathway and has reduced from 14 to 10 days for residents on the respiratory pathway (the respiratory pathway is determined by the Respiratory Screening Tool as per the National Infection Prevention and Control Manual: Winter (21/22), Respiratory Infections in Health and Care Settings Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Addendum. To summarise, if you are on the respiratory pathway this means those that have answered ‘yes’ to the screening tool, that is they are Covid-19 positive or a close contact of someone who is Covid-19 positive within 10 days).
- Removal of guidance on limiting the number of households that can visit a care home resident at any one time to two. This follows the First Minister’s announcement on changes to guidance for the general public.
- Named visitors should be supported during outbreaks unless there are exceptional circumstances.
- Named visitors who visit a resident who is Covid-19 positive can visit the resident again during their isolation period.
Further details on these changes including any conditions that may be attached to them are detailed in the letter. The Scottish Government webpages will be updated by the end of the week to fully reflect these changes and Public Health Scotland will update its guidance to incorporate these changes.
Updated guidance on self-isolation exemption (Added 18 January 2022)
The Scottish Government has updated the self-isolation exemption guidance for health and social care staff. The updated guidance will be shown on this webpage in due course: Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates
The guidance means that staff who are identified as contacts and are fully vaccinated no longer need to undertake a PCR test before returning to work. They should take an LFD test instead. If the LFD test is negative and they don’t have a fever or other symptoms, they can continue to work following a risk assessment by their line manager. They should also continue to take an LFD test every day for a 10-day period.
The guidance clarifies that staff who test positive should pause their workplace LFD testing for 28 days (from day 1 of symptom onset or asymptomatic test date). If they are also required to PCR test weekly, they should also pause this for a period of 90 days. Please note that the guidance highlights that the likelihood of a positive LFD test in the absence of a high temperature after 10 days is low, so further testing is not advised unless they have renewed symptoms.
The Scottish Government will produce a flowchart and FAQ document in the coming days to support the guidance.
Adult to child ratios and new notification during Omicron (Added 11 January 2022)
Like all services, early learning and childcare settings are operating under unprecedented circumstances due to the pandemic. The Omicron variant will be extremely challenging, particularly in terms of staffing.
To support continued delivery of safe, high-quality childcare for children and families as we move through this stage of the pandemic, we have temporarily adjusted our policy position on adult to child ratios and introduced a new notification.
High-quality experiences for children should be paramount. Adjusting adult to child ratios must only be used when all other options for additional staffing have been exhausted and a risk assessment has been undertaken. Our guidance gives information on the approach to risk assessment and the required notification.
Updated policy on self-isolation for social care workers (Added 6 January 2022)
Scottish Government has issued an updated policy framework setting out self-isolation guidance for health and social care staff. This is as a result of changes to the Covid-19 self-isolation guidance for the general population, which applies from 6 January, following the First Minister’s announcement on 5 January.
The policy framework sets out the conditions that will enable health and social care staff who are Covid-19 index cases (confirmed as positive cases), or contacts of a positive Covid-19 case to exit isolation early, in line with updated guidance for the general population.
As health and social care workers provide care and support to people for whom a Covid-19 infection can present a higher level of risk, additional safeguards will continue for care staff. These include testing regimes, infection prevention and control measures and personal protective equipment. This updated framework replaces the previous version dated 24 December 2021.
Covid-19 FAQs
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, visit our Covid-19 information pages and the following links.
Guidance for Adult social care
- SG Adult Social Care Covid-19 guidance: This page holds for example guidance for adult care homes, visiting in care homes, care at home/sheltered housing, day care for adults, testing and vaccine.
- NHS Education Scotland: National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM)
- Care Home IPC Manual (CHIPCM)
- CH Cleaning Specification guide
- NHS Inform, Coronavirus (Covid-19): Guidance for visiting loved ones in an adult care homeCoronavirus (Covid-19): Guidance for visiting loved ones in an adult care home
Guidance for early learning, school aged childcare and childminder settings
- SG Early learning, school aged childcare and childminder settings on reducing the risks of Covid-19
- SG Routine Covid Precautions in Schools: guidance on reducing the risks in schools.
- ELC IPC elearning module
Guidance for Children and Young People (CYP)
Other useful links for all social care settings
- Health and Social Care Standards: my support, my life
- All social care staff can register for an account with TURAS using this link. Once registered you will have access to a range of online education and training including, IPC modules relevant to social care or equivalent. IPC Foundations module can be found on learn zone.
- SSSC Infection Prevention and Control modules
- PHS Social Care Guidance
- National Infection Prevention and Control Manual (NIPCM): This is deemed good practice in all other social care settings that are not adult care homes.
- SG Test and protect: Information and support for people who are asked to self-isolate because of Covid-19.
- NHS Inform: Covid-19 guidance for general information about Covid-19 and associated Covid-19 outbreak protective measures.
- Winter (21/22) Respiratory Infections in Health and Care Settings Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Addendum
- Disposal of LFD tests: SEPA position statement.
- HSE Disinfecting Premises
- National Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare Associated Infection (ARHAI) Scotland Compendium
- SG Coronavirus (Covid-19): advice for people on the Highest Risk List
Subcategories
Inspector - Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)
The early learning and childcare expansion…
Role: Inspector - Early Learning and Childcare (ELC)
Location: Forth Valley, Borders, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh & Glasgow
Salary: £31,083 - £39,069 plus excellent benefits
Hours: 140 hours to be worked over a 4-week period
Contract: Permanent or 2-year secondment (would be considered)
Join us and make a difference – for you, for everyone
It’s our job to ensure care for everyone, everywhere in Scotland is as good as it can be. If you are as passionate about high-quality care as we are, and you’re experienced in your field, we’d love to hear from you.
About us
As a national scrutiny body that supports improvement. We inspect care services and partnerships across Scotland, report on the quality of care people experience, and support improvements in services to facilitate improvements in outcomes for people.
We inspect care services individually. We also work with other scrutiny bodies to inspect the social care and social work services people are experiencing in local areas.
We champion high-quality care whenever we encounter it across the thousands of inspections, we carry out each year, and we work closely with all care providers to support them to improve all the time. We collaborate with other organisations too, supporting improvement across public services. Our work plays a big role in reducing health and social inequalities between people and communities.
We are looking for talented people to join us in making a difference - specialists who understand how to put people’s needs, rights and choices at the heart of delivering social services – and how to lead improvement too. Our 600 staff work with services across the public, voluntary and private sectors. We have offices across Scotland and many of our staff work from home.
About you
Whether early or established in your career, you will share our determination that care, social work and justice services should work well for people – every time. You’ll be confident about what good-quality care looks like and how to deliver it. You’ll be good at analysing information and evidence. You will have excellent writing skills for narrative inspection reports that are clear, concise and focused on outcomes. You will be confident in working with a wide range of people and at supporting and advising on improvement.
You’ll currently be working, or have significant experience in, social care, social work, health, children’s services, early learning, child protection, or community learning and development. You will be registered or eligible to register with a professional body like the SSSC, NMC or GTC.
About the role
Our care inspectors work with care services: childminders, nurseries, care homes, care at home, housing support and a host of other specialist services. A specialist in your field, you may have helped lead a service and have a strong track record in delivering quality. You’ll be adept at leading improvement and influencing others. You will work with people experiencing care, and care service providers, managers and staff.
Why join us?
We strive to be a great employer, knowing that competitive salary, leave and pension schemes are only part of that. We pride ourselves on the values we hold, person-centred; fairness; respect; efficiency and integrity - all supported with a culture of care and kindness.
We believe in collective leadership and innovation. You’ll have a lot of autonomy to manage your own work and use the professional skills you’ve honed during your career – but in new ways. Starting on day one, our learning and development support will help you become confident in the craft of scrutiny and in supporting improvement. Because a lot of your role is about sharing effective practice across Scotland, the impact you can have on experiences and outcomes for people is significant. You will draw on management and leadership skills you’ve developed in the past.
We’re proud to be a progressive, supportive employer – we’re happy to talk about flexible working with you and we’re members of the Disability Confident Scheme, aiming to make the most of the talents disabled people can bring to the workplace.
New appointments will normally be placed on the minimum grade for the role; a higher starting salary may be offered in exceptional circumstances only.
ELC expansion
The Scottish Government is committed to expanding the provision of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from 600 hours to 1140 hours per year by 2020. The expansion of ELC is aimed to support the reduction in the poverty-related attainment gap and improve long term outcomes for children and families.
Due to the ELC expansion programme we are looking for 7 further ELC Inspectors in addition to the “business as usual” Inspector campaign launched recently.
Principles and aims
The priority for the expansion to 1140 hours is to improve children's outcomes and close the poverty-related attainment gap. In addition, the expansion aims to support parents into work, study or training. The Scottish Government's four principles of the ELC expansion are: quality, flexibility, affordability, and accessibility.
The Scottish Government has stated that quality is 'at the heart' of the expansion and that achieving a high-quality ELC experience for children is a key objective.
Use and provision
A 2018 survey found that the main reason why parents use funded ELC is that they consider it beneficial for their child's learning and development. In addition, parents reported using the funded hours to either work, increase the number of hours they work, or look for work.
Funded ELC in Scotland is delivered by a wide range of providers including nurseries, crèches and playgroups, from across the public, private and third sectors. A small number of childminders also deliver funded ELC, but the Scottish Government hopes this number will increase under the expansion to 1140 hours.
Criteria to apply
- We require you to hold a relevant qualification (minimum SCQF Level 9), register with either the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) or any other relevant professional body and undertake PVG checks.
- You must also be prepared to do a Professional Development Award in Scrutiny and Improvement (Social Services) at SCQF level 10 with appropriate support from the organisation.
- You will have a minimum of three years recent and demonstrable management experience in a relevant field. You must also be willing to travel with overnight stays as required.
Before you apply
- Please contact the relevant body directly to resolve any queries you have regarding registration or eligible qualifications for registration (SSSC, NMC and so on) before submitting your application.
- For an informal chat about the job role, please contact (Who?) You or Kim Connolly, Team Manager on 07766133161
- For all other queries, please contact Human Resources at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To apply
- If you are interested, please see the minimum criteria to apply as an Inspector and the specific guidance and directions to apply. Thereafter, click on the gateway questions link to apply.
- Your completed application form (campaign number C39 only forms) and equal opportunities form should be returned to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.no later than Monday, 14 October 2019 at 8.00am.
- We anticipate that selection days will take place in the week commencing Monday, 18 November 2019.