Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Cancellation of Registration) Order 2026: final business and regulatory impact assessment

Section 2: Engagement and information gathering

Engagement approach

46. While there is no statutory requirement to undertake a consultation on this Order, there has been a consultation of key stakeholders carried out, including local government, private and third sector providers of social care services. This took the form of a letter issued by email via COSLA and umbrella organisations, inviting views via return email, as well as online webinars.

47. Future engagement includes a commitment from the Care Inspectorate to produce guidance for providers setting out how the power is intended to be used, and their procedures around its implementation.

Internal SG engagement/ engagement with wider Public Sector

Internal SG engagement

48. Within the Scottish Government, the team working on this policy area have engaged with the following policy teams:

• Childminding
• Early Learning & Childcare
• Foster Care
• Kinship Care
• Residential Rehab
• Adoption
• Justice Services
• Drugs & Alcohol

UK/ Devolved Administrations

49. Social care policy and regulation is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

50. The Scottish Government have not engaged with other UK administrations on this specific policy to date.

Wider Public Sector

51. The Scottish Government engaged with COSLA as part of the consultation on the Order, and no issues were raised.

International

52. The Scottish Government have not engaged with officials in countries overseas.

Business / Third Sector engagement

53. As previously mentioned, there was no statutory requirement to consult on this Order. However, it will have an impact on businesses, specifically those who provide care services which are regulated by the Care Inspectorate. The Scottish Government therefore consulted with social care providers to invite their views. As well as the Care Inspectorate, relevant policy teams were contacted to obtain their contact lists to ensure all service types and sizes were reached. This includes third sector organisations, as well as private and public (Local Government).

54. A letter was issued which detailed the proposal and invited feedback / questions. In addition, two webinars were held for providers. The proposal was presented to them followed by the opportunity for discussion and questions.

55. Feedback was generally supportive of the proposal, and questions were largely around the implementation of the policy, as summarised below:

• Questions around whether the policy will be purely at the Care Inspectorate’s discretion or whether there will be guidance in terms of how it could be applied.
• Questions around the levels of authority, and how many people within the Care Inspectorate would be involved in a decision on whether a case should be escalated to proposal of cancellation.
• Some providers shared concerns about the power being used too readily without sufficient time being given for improvements to be made.
• It was also raised that, if the Care Inspectorate were to close a service, continuity of care needs to be protected.

56. In response to these questions, the Care Inspectorate have agreed to produce guidance for providers which will set out their existing procedures relating to decision making and continuity of care, as well as how this policy would be implemented.

57. There were also some questions from providers around what we mean by “sustained” improvement. The drafting of the Order now stipulates that the policy can be applied within a 12 month period.

Public consultation

58. Although there was no statutory requirement to undertake a consultation on this Order, there has been a consultation of key stakeholders carried out, including local government, private and third sector providers of social care services. The National Care Service consultation, carried out in 2021 included questions on enhancement of the Care Inspectorate’s enforcement powers. There was strong support for this (88% in agreement).

Other stakeholders

59. Following the Order coming into force, the Scottish Government will continue to engage with the Care Inspectorate on the implementation of the Order , and to oversee their commitment to publish guidance for providers in relation to the implementation of the policy and related procedures.