National Care Service: Independent advocacy co-design report

Introduction

We have been working with organisations who support people from groups and communities who often have barriers to engaging with government.

We wanted to engage with these groups as they have not been as involved as other groups in our previous co-design work.

This work will help us make sure that we are co-designing social care support services in a way that will help everyone across Scotland.

The findings from this co-design work will be shared with the interim National Care Service Advisory Board. The interim board met for the first time in May 2025. The membership is diverse and was informed by co-design findings.

The interim board is helping to drive improvement and make sure services are consistent, fair, and high-quality across Scotland by exploring issues and making recommendations for improvements across the sector.

The full board, once appointed, will continue the work of the interim board. The board will use information we have learned from co-design to inform their decisions about social care, social work and community health across Scotland.

We will continue to collaborate with the people of Scotland throughout the development of the National Care Service Advisory Board. This will help us to make sure we deliver what the people of Scotland want.