National Care Service Charter of Rights

Your support network, home, unpaid carers and independent advocacy

British Sign Language (BSL) translation

Your rights

You have rights to:

• involve your support network in your support
• get support in a way that respects your private and family life, home and correspondence 

Read what the Charter means where it says ‘you have rights to’ and ‘you should expect’ in the rights and expectations in this Charter.

Your support network and community

You have rights to involve your support network in your support. Your support network might include trusted people you know. These could be: 

• people that are involved in providing your support
• family members, friends and neighbours
• spiritual or religious representatives
• an independent advocate
• an unpaid adult carer, kinship carer, parent carer or young carer

You should be supported to look after the relationships that are important to you, and you should be supported to be part of your community. Community means different things to different people. Community might include:

• a spiritual, religious, cultural or ethnic community
• a national, local or island community
• people with similar life experiences or circumstances
• people with similar conditions or receiving similar support

Your home

If you receive support in your own home or in a residential setting such as a care home your right to a private and family life will be respected. 

The rights of other people that live with you or visit you will also be respected. 

Your privacy will be respected. You can say who you want or do not want to be involved in conversations about your support. Sometimes people with legal authority will be involved in conversations about your support too. You can also say who you do or do not want to visit. 

If your home is a care home

If you live in a care home, this is your home and you will be supported to spend time with the people that are important to you, including people sometimes staying over.

The people who provide your support will ask you who you want to spend time with and how you want to spend time with them. They will record this in your care plan, and they will support you to connect with people in the ways that are right for you. 

Essential Care Supporter

If you live in care home, from 31 March 2026 you also have a right to choose at least one person who can act as your Essential Care Supporter, if that is your wish. 

This Essential Care Supporter:

• will be supported to see you day to day by the care home
• may be involved directly in providing you with care, support and companionship  

In rare situations there may be a risk to the life, health or wellbeing of care home residents. The care home may need to suspend visits to keep people safe. This will only happen if absolutely necessary and for as short a time as possible. 

If this happens, visits in some circumstances must still go ahead, for example in end of life situations and in certain circumstances where there will be serious harm to your health or wellbeing if the visit does not go ahead. This may mean that the Essential Care Supporter can carry on their role. 

Unpaid carers

Unpaid carers, including young carers have a right to:

• a personalised support plan, prepared within a reasonable time - this can be an adult carer support plan or a young carer statement
• carer support, which may include support to enable breaks from caring
• be involved in decisions about support provided to them and the person they care for
• access to a local carer information and advice service

All unpaid carers, including young carers, have the right to a support plan or young carer statement identifying their needs, and what support is available to them to help meet their eligible needs. This will also take into account how much care they are willing and able to provide. 

This should also include a discussion on whether an unpaid carer needs a break from caring. Carers also have rights to be involved in decisions about their own support and involvement in assessing the needs of the person they are caring for.

All carers should have access to locally-based information and advice on issues such as carers’ rights, income maximisation and local carer support. You can find out more in the Carers’ Charter.

Independent advocacy 

Independent advocacy can help you understand:

• your rights
• your situation
• how to access support

Independent advocacy helps everyone. But it can be even more important for people who feel like their voice is not being heard and for people whose rights are not being met. This includes people with support needs and unpaid carers. 

An independent advocate can help you to:  

• understand your rights and any information about your support 
• express your views and have your views heard 
• raise concerns about your support 
• be more involved in the process if your support is being reviewed or changed 

Independent advocates are separate from the organisations that provide your support. This means their only responsibility is to represent you and help you express your views, wishes and concerns.

Independent advocates do not provide advice. 

The support you might be offered by an independent advocate may depend on your circumstances and needs and the availability of independent advocacy in your area. 

People providing your support should be willing to work with you and your independent advocate and recognise the role of your independent advocate in supporting you.

Types of independent advocacy

There are two main types of independent advocacy:  

1.    Collective or group independent advocacy - when people with similar life experiences support each other and work together to improve services and campaign for their rights.

2.    Individual independent advocacy - when someone supports you one-to-one. This can include:

• Issue-based or professional advocacy: an advocate helps you understand your choices and speak up about a decision that affects you
• Citizen advocacy: a volunteer uses their skills to support you for as long as needed, helping you take part in your community
• Peer advocacy: your advocate has similar life experiences, which can make it easier to talk and be understood

Who can get independent advocacy

Anyone can request information on how to access independent advocacy or ask for an independent advocate to help. There are some times when independent advocacy must be provided by law:

people with a mental illness, learning disability, or personality disorder have a right of access to independent advocacy 
disabled people have a right of access to independent advocacy to help them through the Scottish social security system where this is needed
children and young people, or their parents, have rights to an advocate in certain situations, for example, when they’re going to a Children’s Hearing

How to find an independent advocacy service 

The Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance has more information about how to find these services. They do not provide advocacy themselves.

You can:

• use the ‘Find an Advocate’ tool
• phone: 0131 510 9410