By Gabriel Princewill-
The Eye of Media is launching an investigation into the way fitness-to-practise concerns are assessed and closed by Scotland’s social-services regulator, following a sustained rise in referrals and new evidence that hundreds of cases have required additional scrutiny after concerns about the adequacy of earlier enquiries.
It follows serious complaints of incompetence and sub optimal service against social workers in Scotland, following a recommendation for our publication to take the matter up for investigation.
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Figures published by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) show that 4,836 fitness-to-practise referrals were received during 2024/25. That represents an increase from 4,615 referrals the previous year and 4,122 in 2022/23.
This publication learnt that the regulator closed 4,850 referrals during 2024/25, while 1,857 cases remained open at the end of March 2025. The SSSC states that approximately 32 per cent of referrals are opened for investigation, meaning that most referrals are closed during the initial screening process.
The scale of those closures makes the operation of the screening system an important area of public interest. The decision to close a referral can have significant consequences for the professional concerned, the person who raised the concern and, in cases involving potential risks to service users, the wider public.
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The SSSC has identified a number of circumstances in which a referral may be closed without a full investigation. These include cases where the information does not meet the regulatory threshold, where there is insufficient evidence, where the matter is considered to be primarily an employment or organisational issue, or where the available information does not indicate that a person’s fitness to practise is currently impaired.
The Eye of Media will examine how those decisions are reached and how consistently the screening process is applied. The investigation is particularly significant because the SSSC itself identified a problem with the closure of some cases during 2025. According to papers presented to the SSSC Council, cases were identified that had been closed without sufficient enquiries having been made. A subsequent review identified 174 cases requiring further examination.
The SSSC has stated that all of those cases have been reviewed and that investigations were commenced where necessary. The regulator has also reported the introduction of additional quality-assurance measures and an external legal review of the issue.
This publication will examine the circumstances surrounding those 174 cases, the findings of the subsequent reviews and the changes introduced by the regulator. We will also seek to establish whether the issue was isolated or whether it revealed weaknesses in the systems used to assess and close referrals.
The investigation will take place against a backdrop of significant pressure on Scotland’s social-services workforce. SSSC figures show that there were 10,817 registered social workers in Scotland in 2025, compared with 10,925 in 2024. At the same time, the wider workforce registered with the SSSC exceeded 175,000 people.
The vacancy rate for practising social workers in Scottish local authorities was 8.9 per cent in June 2025, with 551 whole-time-equivalent vacancies recorded. Nineteen of the 26 local authorities that provided information reported difficulties filling social-work vacancies.
Social Work Scotland has separately reported concerns about workload, recruitment, financial pressures and staff wellbeing. Scottish Government material has also identified high and increasingly complex caseloads, administrative demands and workforce shortages as challenges facing the profession.
These circumstances do not establish that workforce pressures are responsible for the increase in fitness-to-practise referrals. This publication will treat any connection between working conditions and regulatory referrals as an issue requiring evidence rather than as an established fact.
The investigation will instead examine the wider circumstances in which referrals are generated and assessed. This will include the role of employers, managers, professional colleagues, members of the public and other organisations in referring concerns to the regulator.
The source of referrals is potentially important because a fitness-to-practise referral can arise from circumstances that also involve employment disputes, disciplinary procedures, management decisions, whistleblowing or disagreements within organisations. The investigation will examine whether such matters are being appropriately distinguished from concerns that require professional regulatory intervention.
The investigation will also examine the experience of professionals who have been referred to the SSSC. Analysts in the field say the number of referrals alone cannot establish how effectively the regulatory system is operating.
A meaningful assessment requires consideration of what happens to those referrals, the evidence considered during screening, the reasons for closure and the mechanisms available for reviewing decisions.
The Eye of Media will seek evidence from current and former social workers, people who have made referrals, social-work managers, Chief Social Work Officers, employers, professional organisations, trade unions, regulatory lawyers and academics specialising in professional regulation.
Former SSSC employees and people with direct experience of the fitness-to-practise process will also be invited to contribute to the investigation. The interviews with senior representatives of the SSSC, including those responsible for fitness-to-practise regulation and quality assurance.
The regulator will be given the opportunity to explain how screening decisions are made, what evidence is required before a case is closed, how decisions are reviewed, and what changes have been introduced following the identification of the 174 cases.
The investigation will also examine the extent of independent oversight of the regulatory process. The SSSC has governance structures including its Audit and Assurance Committee, Fitness to Practise Committee and Quality Assurance arrangements.
The Eye of Media will examine the responsibilities of those structures and the extent to which they provide scrutiny of screening and case-closure decisions.
Comparisons with other parts of the United Kingdom will form another part of the investigation. Social Work England, Social Care Wales and the relevant regulatory structures in Northern Ireland operate under different statutory and procedural arrangements, meaning that their figures cannot simply be compared as though they measure identical things.
Nevertheless, their approaches may provide useful evidence about how professional regulators manage large volumes of concerns and determine which cases require formal investigation.
We will also examine the distinction between a referral and a finding of misconduct or impaired fitness to practise. A referral represents a concern or allegation and does not establish that a professional has breached professional standards.
Similarly, the closure of a referral does not necessarily mean that the original concern was without foundation. It may mean that the matter falls outside the regulator’s remit, cannot be substantiated to the required standard, is more appropriately dealt with elsewhere or does not meet the threshold for regulatory action.
The purpose of the investigation is not to assume that referrals are being closed improperly, nor to suggest that every referral should result in a formal investigation. The purpose is to establish how the system operates, whether the decisions being made are adequately supported by evidence, whether appropriate safeguards are in place and whether those decisions receive sufficient scrutiny.
The scale of referrals, the high proportion closed at screening and the SSSC’s identification of 174 cases that required further review provide a substantial basis for examining the process in detail.We will now begin gathering evidence from professionals, regulators, employers, legal experts and members of the public with direct experience of the system and publish the findings of the investigation as the evidence is established and verified.
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