Social Care Analytical Unit: Areas of Research Interest. 2026-2029

Getting in touch / Working with us

General information on the Scottish Government approach to academic engagement is available in the Academic Engagement Fact Sheet.

How to contact us

SCAU are keen to hear about the research that comes from this ARI. We are a small team and will endeavour to engage with the research community when we can. If you wish to discuss any aspects of this ARI, or the engagement information set out below please contact: ariasc@gov.scot. SCAU analysts will aim to provide an initial response within 20 working days. If you are contacting us please provide brief background on your organisation, your specific request and how it is aligned to the ARI. We will take into account policy alignment and priorities, purpose, timescales, ethical considerations, and availability of relevant capacity and expertise within SCAU when responding.

Stakeholder Engagement

Existing Stakeholder Engagement

Advisory Groups and Working Groups

Advisory Groups and Working Groups are commonly used in the Scottish Government to bring people with a range of expertise together to advise or assist in taking forward a project. Analytical working groups draw upon expertise provided by the wider research community. The groups can be short term or longer term.

Administrative Data Research (ADR) Scotland

ADR Scotland is a partnership that brings together specialists from the Scottish Government’s Data for Research and Data Sharing Legislation Unit and academic researchers at the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR). Together, they are transforming how public sector data in Scotland is curated, accessed and explored so it can deliver its full potential for policymakers and the public.

As part of this programme of work, ADR Scotland has developed a series of spotlight sessions to provide a platform for researchers, analysts and policymakers to showcase innovative research practices, explore existing and emerging datasets, and identify data and evidence gaps and priorities within specific policy themes. The series also encourages participants to propose new data linkage research ideas and projects that can provide valuable insights for novel policy solutions and impact.

SCAU has developed a programme of work with ADR Scotland focusing on adult social care and carers. This includes the 2025 ‘Data with Impact’ event on Adult Social Care, as well as work to enable national social care data to become more accessible for researchers via the Scottish National Safe Haven. A report from the Social Care event can be found here.

In their new investment period (2026-2030), ADR Scotland will establish multi-disciplinary groups to progress their five strategic research themes, including one on Health, Mental Health and Social Care. These groups will be supported by communities of practice, a suite of resources and an end-to-end supported service to help researchers and policy colleagues identify priority datasets for ingest and/or develop policy-responsive research projects using administrative data.

The ADR Scotland Engagement and Impact Team would welcome involvement in any of these elements. Please contact: ADRScotland@gov.scot.

Anticipated Stakeholder Engagements

Collaborating and sharing knowledge across the social care research community, the wider research community, the social care sector, policy makers and beyond are an integral part of the work of SCAU. There are a number of ways in which SCAU currently facilitate and benefit from collaborating with the social care research community.

Disseminating research to policy teams

There are numerous ways in which researchers can present their work to Scottish Government policy and analysts. For example, by providing an accessible research summary of key findings, presenting via established learning and development seminars, to bespoke spotlight presentations or roundtable discussions. SCAU can facilitate links between external researchers and Scottish Government colleagues on topics of relevance to policy making (and in some cases with colleagues from other public sector bodies with an interest in social care).

Workshops / seminars / conferences

SCAU is open to opportunities to participate in relevant events hosted by other organisations involved in research (for example presenting, networking, professional development or knowledge exchange). Recent examples of SCAU participation in workshops include those hosted by the Scottish Policy and Research Exchange (SPRE), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Advanced Care Research Centre.

Commissioning research

Evidence is produced both in-house (by Scottish Government social researchers, operational researchers, statisticians and economists), and externally commissioned to independent research providers. Our approach to commissioning research is governed by the Scottish Government’s procurement strategy. Contracts are awarded via fair competition on the basis of both quality and price. Projects for tender are published on ‘Public Contracts Scotland’ - the Scottish Government’s official national portal for public sector contract opportunities.

Grant applications

SCAU are willing to consider collaborations with the research community on grant applications, where projects relate to this ARI or other relevant Scottish Government strategies or policies. Typically our involvement includes providing letters of support or participating in research advisory groups.

Please note that this ARI publication is not a call for bids or research proposals and it does not have any funding attached to it.

Short term projects / Internships / Fellowships / Placements

SCAU offer opportunities to collaborate with researchers on short term projects, internships, fellowships and placements. These are arranged via Scottish Government schemes and opportunities are advertised. This includes:

• the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science internship scheme
• the UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) Policy Fellows scheme
• the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account – University of Edinburgh – Scottish Government Policy Fellowship Scheme.

Examples of the type of projects which PhD student internships have undertaken include evidence synthesis, analysis of survey data, and gathering stakeholder insights.

Peer review

Occasionally SCAU may approach the wider research community (and other experts) to peer review draft publications or methodology. This helps to ensure that our publications present robust analysis for policy making and for the wider social care sector and public.

Tools, methods, and disciplinary approaches

What types of evidence do we use?

Recent research on defining, evidencing and improving social care^[3] indicated the importance of taking an inclusive approach to social care evidence which values a range of different types of evidence and knowledge.

Our evidence base is informed by qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods research and secondary data analysis. Though our focus is on the Scottish policy and delivery context, we also draw on evidence emerging from the rest of the United Kingdom, as well as internationally, where there are insights for Scotland. Our interests also include: evaluation and intervention evidence, work that takes innovative methodological approaches or techniques; and the research that makes best use of existing data where this might have limitations or gaps.

Work undertaken by researchers from a range of disciplines using an assortment of methods and approaches, including those that are innovative or seldom used, can inform government decision-making. As such, SCAU would encourage research projects to employ any methods or approaches that are appropriate for the research question being addressed.

While datasets are useful on their own, bringing them together means that researchers can find patterns and insights that we would not see if we only considered those datasets individually in isolation. Linking data can allow researchers to draw insights from across the data, looking at issues over time (longitudinally), across the population and examine nuanced issues impacting people’s lives.

Data linkage (using administrative and survey data) provides not only opportunities to enhance our evidence base through analysis, but it also enables the use of other data sources to improve data quality. Working in partnership with Administrative Data Research (ADR) Scotland and other stakeholders, opportunities for data linkage have been incorporated into our research priorities.

We currently produce a range of evidence that helps inform policymaking on social care. This includes statistics on adult support and protection, unpaid caring, free personal and nursing care, and experiences of help, care and support.

Evidence published by the Scottish Government forms part of a wider collection of evidence produced by other partners (for example, Public Health Scotland, the Care Inspectorate and the Scottish Social Services Council).

Many of the data sources which we draw upon for our analysis were published within the report: Adult Social Care Data Sources - Mapping National Adult Social Care and Care Home Data Sources in Scotland: Baseline understanding and future potential: September 2022

Supporting Research: information on current work

As set out in the Health and Social Care Data Strategy, Scotland aims to support research and innovation by facilitating safe access to health and social care data. Social care data offers valuable opportunities to improve our understanding of people’s needs, how care is delivered, and progress in reducing inequalities. Realising these benefits depends on clear, timely and consistent information governance and ethical arrangements that enable data to be accessed, collected and used appropriately. SCAU is taking forward a range of work, in collaboration with partners across the Scottish Government and other organisations, to support social care research and improve access to high quality social care data.

Making national social care data ‘research ready’

SCAU are working with ADR Scotland, and PHS to enable three national social care datasets be made ‘research ready’. This means that the datasets are linkable and are stored in the National Safe Haven in preparation for researchers to access once appropriate information governance is in place. The social care datasets are:

• Scottish Care Home Census
• Source (Social Care)
• Health and Care Experience Survey (also includes health service experience data)

In order to maximise research opportunities, Scottish Government will also explore options for extracts of the above 3 datasets to be shared with the regional safe havens.

In addition, SCAU are working with ADR Scotland to create an ‘Ageing Well’ flagship dataset which will include social care data and support both the research priorities identified in this ARI, but also the research priorities of ADR Scotland.

This programme of work supports the aims and commitments set out in the Health and Social Care Data Strategy, to support research and innovation - specifically the commitments to maximise the opportunities for data-driven research and innovation and to “support access to health and social care data through trusted research and innovation environments, such as Scotland’s ‘Safe Havens’, with appropriate approval processes providing assurance that data is used in line with ethical principles.”

The programme of work also links to recommendations from the Care Home Data Review, being taken forward by the Care Home Data Working Group:

• Work with the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel for Health and Social Care (HSC -PBPP) and organisations like Research Data Scotland (RDS) and Administrative Data Research (ADR) Scotland to facilitate sharing of data for research with appropriate information governance in place.
• Where appropriate, work with the research and innovation sector to improve insight and data quality.

Change Management Board

The Scottish Government has established a new Change Management Board (CMB). The CMB will look at the end-to-end process for ingesting data into the National Safe Haven as well as how data linkage projects are approved and provided to researchers. These are the initial areas that the CMB will consider, other specific items of work will be defined in due course.

Social Care Research Ethics

The Health and Social Care Data Strategy^[33] sets out our ethical approach and principles to using all health and social care data in Scotland. The Strategy states that “we want to embed an ethical, open, and human rights-based approach to the use of health and social care data in Scotland which maintains public trust and confidence.”

As part of the recent Care Home Data Review, the ethical review processes for adult care home data was considered for its use in research, innovation and statistics. The review found that the ethical approval processes for research involving recipients and providers of social care are often unclear and complex. Some social care research is required to undergo review by an NHS or a university research ethics committee. For other types of social care research, there is no route for independent ethical review. Unlike in other parts of the UK, there are also no Research Ethics Committees (RECs) flagged to review social care research in Scotland. The findings from this review are also applicable for adult social care more broadly. SCAU in collaboration with CSO, and with support of the Social Care Research Ethics Working Group, are taking forward the recommendations from the Care Home Data Review with an ultimate aim of embedding an ethical based approach to the use of social care data in Scotland which maintains public trust and confidence. Outputs from the Working Group will be published on SG website.