Care Home Services (Visits to and by Care Home Residents) (Scotland) Regulations 2026: final business and regulatory impact assessment

Section 3: Costs, impacts and benefits

Quantified costs to businesses

It is expected that there will be some costs for care home providers and those supporting care homes, to promote and champion Anne’s Law. This will happen through staff and provider awareness sessions, formal training, updating visiting policies including the identification of the Essential Care Supporter, reviewing decisions to suspend visiting and for printing leaflets and other administration.

However, it is not expected that costs will impose a significant financial burden on care home providers as much of this is already in place. Care homes have adopted the new visiting Health and Social Care standards, which require them to facilitate meaningful contact between residents and families. These measures have prepared providers for the implementation of the regulations and no specific costs have been highlighted by care home providers.

Accordingly, it is anticipated that the new requirements will be absorbed within the usual costs of following current guidance around named visitor policy, updating care plans, training and other materials. There is potentially a time burden associated with any proposed local oversight and assurance arrangements for Anne’s Law involving professional leads from Local Authorities and NHS Boards. However, this could be facilitated through existing local mechanisms for care home support and is not expected to result in additional staff costs.

The Financial Memorandum^[3] and supplementary Financial Memorandum^[4] detail the costs expected to arise from the implementation of this policy.

Currently, complaints regarding visiting can be made to registered services, or directly to the Care Inspectorate and for individual staff via the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). Complaints can also go via the local authority, the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), or the individual NHS health board. If individuals are not happy with the decision relating to their complaint, from any of these bodies, they can approach the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

The Scottish Government estimates that there will be heightened public interest in the new legislation, which may result in, people exercising their right to complain. Therefore, complaints to the Care Inspectorate may increase in the short term, although current arrangements for adopting the new Health and Social Care Standards and supporting visiting during outbreaks are already well adopted within the sector. Any increase in complaints via other routes is not expected to be significant.

We identified that the Care Inspectorate would incur costs in the lead up to the introduction of Anne’s Law, as there was a need to promote the guidance, the new Standards and prepare the sector for Anne’s Law.

The Scottish Government has worked with the Care Inspectorate to determine the work over and above their core responsibilities. The Scottish Government have agreed a package of additional measures, materials and resources to support preparation for Anne’s Law including support for care homes to develop new policies reflecting the Health and Social Care Standards; staff induction and internal and external training; self-evaluation improvement support for services; and developing capacity to enable the immediate resolution of complaints through direct engagement with providers and services.

The total Care Inspectorate costs to support the introduction of the regulations is £342,000. Thereafter, improvements to visiting will become embedded in the sector and we estimate that costs will reduce significantly.

The impact of the regulations should also be viewed in the context of the benefits to the health and wellbeing of adult care home residents and their friends and families, with a case to be made that that there will be savings realised in other aspects of the Health and Social Care system.

During the Scottish Government’s consultation in September 2021 and further consultation in September – November 2025, there was widespread support for the approach of introducing this policy. Many respondents commented on their own experiences of family members being isolated in care homes over the course of the pandemic and the lasting harm this caused.

Other impacts

Consumer Duty

The potential impact of the regulations on consumers has been considered. However, any decisions taken by care home providers as a result of this policy are expected to relate to operational matters, rather than strategic matters. Therefore, it has been assessed that a Consumer Duty Impact Assessment is not required.