Learning reviews (children and young people)
Learning reviews (children and young people)
The Care Inspectorate, on behalf of the Scottish Government, acts as a central collation point for all learning reviews carried out by Child Protection Committees (CPCs) in Scotland.
The Care Inspectorate is responsible for reviewing the effectiveness of the processes for each learning review and for providing feedback to individual Chief Officer Groups and CPCs.
All learning reviews reports will be shared with the Care Inspectorate. The National Guidance for Child Protection Committees for Undertaking Learning Reviews published in September 2021, clearly sets out that CPCs will inform the Care Inspectorate of their decision on whether to carry out a learning Review. On the completion of a learning review, a copy of the full report should be sent to us.
Notifications
CPCs are required to notify the Care Inspectorate of their decision to proceed or not to proceed to a learning review using the Care Inspectorate’s eform system. To do so, the CPC needs to have a user account to log into the system.
Submission of Learning Review Reports
Please submit the full Learning review Report through our secure email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The main contact for this work is:
Maureen Wylie, Strategic Inspector
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Mobile: 07717 423154
Other information
- National Policy and Legislation - Child Protection
- Learning reviews for children National overview report
- Code of practice for the review of learning reviews of children and young people in Scotland
Strategic scrutiny and assurance
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:
Testing
Clarification on asymptomatic testing for social care staff (Added 1 April)
As soon as possible
The Scottish Government has advised that daily asymptomatic (work day) LFD testing will no longer be required and social care settings should revert back to their routine, baseline asymptomatic testing as soon as this is possible. This is either a weekly PCR or twice-weekly LFD (apart from adult care home staff who will continue to test with a weekly PCR and twice-weekly LFD).
This approach to testing in social care has been informed by clinical advice and is subject to ongoing review. LFD tests are extremely effective at picking up the virus in asymptomatic individuals, specifically when they are most infectious and therefore more likely to pass it on to others. This is considered proportionate while still offering sufficient protection to those at highest risk.
From Monday 18 April
The role of Covid-19 testing is changing from population wide testing, to targeted testing to support clinical care. The Scottish Government approach to testing in social care has been informed by clinical advice and is subject to ongoing review.
Based on this advice, regular asymptomatic testing will continue for parts of the health and care workforce. This is primarily in settings which are still considered high risk and/or where those using services are deemed to be at a higher risk of hospitalisation from Covid-19.
Testing will stop for staff groups in settings that are now deemed to be lower risk and/or in services which do not involve close personal care and contact or where clients are no longer at a higher risk of Covid-19.
For pathways/services continuing to test, we are moving away from using PCR testing (with the exception of adult care home staff) and asking staff to test twice weekly with LFD tests.
As stated, LFD tests are extremely effective at picking up the virus in asymptomatic individuals and specifically when they are most infectious and therefore more likely to pass it on to others.
Providers with excess LFD stock can pause their deliveries by calling the NSS helpline on 0800 008 6587.
For an overview of the social care asymptomatic pathways and changes in these pathways from Monday 18 April, click here.
Introduction of Test and Protect transition plan (Added 16 March 2022)
The Scottish Government published its Test and Protect Transition Plan. The Transition Plan set out the timelines for moving away from population-wide testing aimed at reducing transmission, towards a more targeted approach to testing. A notice explaining this can be found here.
Introduction of Orient Gene 7s LFD kits (Added 12 August 2021)
The Scottish Government has advised us that Orient Gene 7s LFD testing kits are being introduced. These new kits will begin to be distributed week beginning Monday 16 August when guidance and training materials will also be published here. All existing Innova 25s stock must be used up first. Please note you should enter the LOT number from the box when recording results on http://www.covidtestingportal.scot/. If you currently receive PCR kits, you will continue to do so and guidance remains unchanged.
Scottish Government update on testing (Added 16 July 2021)
The Scottish Government has updated its guidance on testing in care homes and adult social care as follows.
Care home staff
Care home staff – discretion to allow staff one LFD test per week at home using LFD test kits approved for self-test at home once available (most likely during August)
Coronavirus (Covid-19): adult care home lateral flow device testing
Care home visitors (friends/family)
Family/friend care home visitors - discretion to allow LFD testing at home where tests are collected through the community testing route.
Coronavirus (Covid-19): adult care home lateral flow device testing
Social care staff (excluding care homes but working in the services listed below)
Discretion to allow staff two LFD tests per week at home using LFD test kits approved for self-test at home once available (most likely during August). This is not applicable to staff who undertake PCR tests.
Coronavirus (Covid-19): social care and community based testing guidance
Social care staff
- short break/respite services
- Independent Living Fund Scotland assessors
- social workers
- learning disability settings
- women’s shelters
- personal assistants
- care inspectors
- care at home
- sheltered housing and housing with multiple occupancies
- adult day centres/adult day care services
LFD staff testing notifications guidance (Added 15 April 2021)
Following the introduction of regular LFD (Lateral Flow Device) testing for staff in a range of settings and services, we wanted to provide some clarification on which notifications to use following the outcome of tests:
LFD positive test for one or more staff – Please complete Covid-19: outbreak – notification of suspected case. Only one ‘notification of suspected case’ is needed even if several people have a positive LFD test. Staff who have a positive LFD test must then arrange to have a confirmatory PCR test.
If the outcome of the subsequent PCR test(s) is positive – Please complete Covid-19: outbreak – notification of confirmed case for each individual who has a positive PCR test.
If the outcome of the PCR test(s) is negative – Please complete Covid-19: outbreak – end of suspected case(s).
Weekly testing for agency staff deployed to care homes for adults and older people (Added 24 July 2020)
The Scottish Government has issued guidance to ensure that all staff deployed to care homes for adults and older people from staffing agencies are tested for Covid-19 prior to deployment. They request that agencies provide assurance that a process is in place for testing staff prior to deployment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Friday 31 July. You can access the guidance here.
Testing staff in care homes (Added 24 July 2020)
The Scottish Government testing directorate asks care homes to complete a weekly ‘safety huddle’ template on staff testing. There have been some inconsistencies in recording of the number of staff eligible for testing and the number of staff who have declined tests. For clarity:
Recording of number of staff eligible for testing – Only staff who are at work in the care home should be included and those staff who are not at work for any reason should be excluded from this number e.g. annual leave, sick leave, days off, self-isolating or working elsewhere. Staff who have previously tested positive and have returned for work are also excluded from this number as they are currently not included in the staff testing programme
Recording of number of staff who decline testing – Only staff who are eligible for testing as defined above that have declined testing should be included. Staff who are at not work or staff who have previously tested positive should not be included in this number.
You can find further guidance and the weekly template here.
Guidance from Health Protection Scotland on Covid-19 in care homes (Added 14 July 2020)
Health Protection Scotland has published guidance for PCR testing in care homes and the management of Covid-19 PCR test positive residents and staff.
Letter to all care homes on testing from Scottish Government (Added 23 April 2020)
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport Jeane Freeman has issued a letter for care all care homes to provide further details on procedures in place for testing care home staff and residents for Covid-19. You can read the letter here.
Interim guidance on Covid-19 PCR testing in care homes (Updated 16 May 2020)
Health Protection Scotland has released Interim guidance on Covid-19 PCR testing in care homes and the management of Covid-19 PCR test positive residents and staff.
You can view the guidance here.
Serious Incident Reviews
Serious Incident Reviews
The Care Inspectorate assumed responsibility for the oversight of learning from serious incident reviews when it was established in 2011. The function is underpinned by the Care Inspectorate’s statutory duties under the Public Service Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. The national guidance for serious incident reviews was developed in partnership with the Scottish Government and Social Work Scotland. The guidance outlines what is expected of local authorities when a serious incident comes to their attention.
The reporting of serious incidents currently pertains to people who have received a final disposal from court following conviction. This includes people made subject to the various requirements of a community payback order or a drug treatment and testing order. It also relates to everyone released from custody subject to statutory social work supervision. Guidance on the management and delivery of these orders and licences is contained within a variety of national outcomes and standards - Scottish Government collection of justice social work guidance.
When a serious incident occurs the local authority should notify the Care Inspectorate within five working days. The Care Inspectorate provides a quality assurance role in Serious Incident Reviews, by looking at how reviews have been conducted and whether these have been carried out in a robust and meaningful way. The Serious Incident Review guidance with appendixes to submit a notification and review can be found here.
If there are any queries in the meantime please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Please submit the relevant forms/reports through secure email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The notification and review templates can be found here:
- Serious Incident Review: Notification
- Serious Incident Review Part One: Case Review
- Serious Incident Review Part Two: Reflective Learning Review
The main contact for this work is:
Mike Hendry, Strategic Inspector
Mobile 07388 709834
Covid Winter Support Webinars
The Care Inspectorate are inviting you to participate in a series of Covid Winter Support Webinars.
This three level approach will support both care homes for older people and care at home services to prepare for the challenges of winter in a Covid-19 context.
Individual service specific webinars will be delivered initially by region and will begin in mid-November 2020.
All care home and care at home services will receive an invite to the webinars in due course.
Level 1 content: 1-hour webinars
- Sign posting to Covid-19 and infection control specific resources taken from national guidance and simplified by the Care Inspectorate into a one stop shop for adult social care.
- Share the learning from frequently asked questions (FAQs) from services.
Level 2 content: 1.5-hour webinars
- Review key question 7 from the quality framework for care homes – How good is our care and support during the Covid-19 pandemic?
- Introduce key question 7 from the quality framework for care at home – How good is our care and support during the Covid-19 pandemic?
- Share the new Care Inspectorate Covid-19 self-evaluation and improvement planning tool for care homes for older people and care at home
Level 3 content:
- Looking at specific topics, resources and guidance based on the themes identified by the sector and Care Inspectorate intelligence, as highlighted in the recent letter to services from our Chief Executive Peter Macleod.
Learning reviews, Initial Case Reviews (ICRS) & Significant Case Reviews (SCRS) – Adults
Initial Case Reviews and Significant Case Reviews
National Guidance for Adult Protection Committees Undertaking Learning Reviews was published on 26 May 2022. This sets out that Adult Protection Committees will inform the Care Inspectorate of the decision to proceed with a learning review, or the reasons for not doing so. On completion of a learning review, an anonymised copy of the review report should be sent to us, and a notification of completion submitted.
There will be reviews ongoing that pre-date 26 May 2022. As such, there will be an overlap in submission of learning reviews and of Initial and Signficant Case Reviews which commenced on or after 5 November 2019, and before 26 May 2022.
For the foreseeable future we will accept all reviews, regardless of their structure.
The relevant online notification system for learning reviews, ICRs and SCRs should be used for all submissions. The forms have in built prompts and guidance to support completion.
Please note online submissions require to be completed in one sitting – they cannot be saved when partially completed and then returned to. There is work ongoing to develop this system.
Learning Reviews
For all situations considered under the learning review guidance, a decision notification form should be completed. This electronic notification form is to be completed at the point when a decision has been made to conduct a learning review, or to detail the reasons for not doing so.
A word version of the notification form has been provided here. This could be used to develop the submission, and then be copied into the online version.
Learning review decision notifications should be submitted here: learning review decision notification.
On conclusion of the learning review, an outcome notification form should be completed within seven days of ratification of the outcome of the learning review by the Chief Officers Group.
A word version of the learning outcome notification form has been provided here. This could be used to develop the responses, and then be copied into the online version.
The learning review outcome notification should be submitted here: learning review outcome notification.
Following completion of the learning review outcome notification, an anonymised copy of the learning review report should be sent via secure email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ICR and SCR
A word version of the ICR notification has been provided here. This could be used to develop the responses, and then be copied into the online version.
Adult Protection Committees should note the word version is to support the development of the submission. The submission should however be returned through the online tool.
Adult Protection Committees are required to submit the full ICR report to the Care Inspectorate along with the completed ‘Form B’ (ICR notification) within seven days of ratification of the outcome of the ICR by the Chief Officers Group.
The ICR notification should be submitted here: ICR notification.
The Care Inspectorate, on behalf of Scottish Government, acts as a central collation point for all Significant Case Reviews completed across Scotland at the point at which they are concluded. Further to agreeing the Final Report, in accordance with the steps detailed in The Guidance (2019), Adult Protection Committees should timeously agree a dissemination approach, including submission to the Care Inspectorate.
A word version of the SCR notification has been provided here. This could be used to develop the responses, and then be copied into the online version.
SCR notifications should be submitted here: SCR Reporting Form.
Adult Protection Committees can request to receive a pdf version of the information they submit via the online submission mechanism.
The Care Inspectorate is the central repository for all ICRs and SCRs as a way of supporting learning from these reviews to be shared and implemented more widely. As such, it is important that all reviews that are similar in purpose though not labelled as an ICR, SCR are also submitted.
Following completion of the ICR or SCR, an anonymised copy of the ICR and SCR report as applicable should be sent to us via secure email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The main contact for this work is:
Caroline Doherty, Strategic Inspector
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Registering school holiday, activity and food provision programmes
Does your school holiday, activity and food provision programme need to be registered?
Services offered to children and families as part of school holiday, activity and food provision programmes may need to be registered with the Care Inspectorate. The information below relates to children and young people from primary school age and above.
It is an offence to operate a care service in Scotland without being registered with the Care Inspectorate and the Care Inspectorate is happy to provide advice.
For advice on registration, you can email our registration team: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Childcare service or school holiday, activity and food provision programme
Is the provision advertised as school holiday childcare?
If the answer is yes, then generally the service needs to be registered.
Is the service provided to enable/support parents to work, study or attend training?
If the answer is yes, it would be a childcare service and needs to be registered.
If the service is providing a school holiday club/activity club/playscheme/youth club that is activity based, then it needs to be promoted as such. It should not be promoted as providing childcare.
If you are solely providing an activity-based programme, then this does not need to be registered.
Mealtimes
Depending on the level of support the individual child needs at mealtimes, this could be considered as care, then the service would require to be registered.
Personal care
Do children need help with personal care such as going to the toilet, taking off or putting on appropriate clothing?
If the answer is yes, then the service requires to be registered.
Children with additional support needs
Do the children attending the service have additional support needs (ASN)?
If the answer is yes, then generally the service needs to be registered and the Care Inspectorate would need more information about what type of support children are being given.
Legislative definitions of types of services
It is an offence to operate a care service in Scotland without being registered with the Care Inspectorate.
Section 47 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 defines the types of services that must be registered with the Care Inspectorate.
Day care of children service:
A “day care of children” service is described in paragraph 13 of Schedule 12 as “subject to paragraphs 14(b) to 17, a service which consists of any form of care (whether or not provided to any extent in the form of an educational activity), supervised by a responsible person and not excepted from this definition by regulations, provided for children, on premises other than domestic premises, during the day (whether or not it is provided on a regular basis or commences or ends during the hours of daylight).”
Regulations made under the Act, namely The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Excepted Services) Regulations 2012 (SSI 2012/44) (“the Excepted Services Regulations”), restrict the definition of a day care of children service to those services which have as a primary purpose the provision of care to children.
Regulation 4 of the Excepted Services Regulations states “There is excepted from the definition of “day care of children” in paragraph 13 of schedule 12 to the Act any service unless its primary purpose is the provision of care to children”.
Support service:
A support service is defined by the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 as
“a service provided, by reason of a person’s vulnerability or need (other than vulnerability or need arising by reason only of that person being of a young age), to that person or to someone who cares for that person by-
- a local authority;
- any person under arrangements made by a local authority;
- a health body; or
- any person if it includes personal care or personal support.
Consider whether the ‘vulnerability’ is solely through age. If it is and care is being provided and is provided for more than two hours, then consider if registration as a daycare of children service is more appropriate.
Consider if the ‘vulnerability’ is through some form of additional support need and ‘care’ is required. If it is, consider registering as a support service.
Already a registered provider with the Care Inspectorate
If you are already a registered childcare or support service provider, it might be possible to vary the conditions of your existing service. This is called a variation, as it is varying the existing conditions of your registration with the Care Inspectorate. You can ask for advice on this from our registration team or your inspector.
Get in touch
The Care Inspectorate is happy to provide guidance to support the development and registering of school holiday, activity and food provision programmes for children and families.
Please contact our contact centre on 0345 600 9527 or email Care Inspectorate enquiries at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For advice on registration, you can email our registration team: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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.