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Fitness to practise case timeframes in Scotland have been cut in each of the past three years, official figures have shown.
Despite rising numbers of referrals, the Scottish Social Services Council has reduced the time taken to close cases year on year since 2021-22, according to the SSSC’s annual snapshot on the fitness to practise system.
Average durations in 2024-25 fell both for cases that were closed at the screening stage and those where a practitioner or student’s fitness to practise was investigated, as well as for all types of case outcome.
The SSSC, which regulates about 175,000 social workers, social work students and children’s and adult social care workers, also decreased the proportion of cases that had been open for less than three years.
Rising numbers of referrals
Fitness to practise referral numbers in Scotland rose for the fourth year running, from 4,615 in 2023-24 to 4,836 in 2024-25, the highest figure recorded since the register was last expanded in 2020.
The SSSC closed 4,850 referrals during 2024-25, compared with 4,645 the year before, however, the number of cases left open at the end of the year also grew, from 1,826 as of March 2024 to 1,857 in March 2025, slightly above the SSSC’s target of 1,850.
The regulator said that about two-thirds of referrals (68%) were closed during its screening process, when it decides whether cases merit investigation.
Reducing case durations
During 2024-25, the SSSC took 5.05 months on average to close a referral, including those closed at screening, down from 5.42 months in 2023-24 and a recent high of 7.83 months in 2021-22.
For cases that were investigated, the average duration, which was 19.64 months in 2021-22, fell from 14.51 to 13.76 months between 2023-24 and 2024-25.
The data also showed reductions in the average lengths of cases where no action was taken against the registrant (from 12.74 months in 2023-24 to 11.98 months in 2024-25); where the practitioner or student was sanctioned by an SSSC officer (from 20.71 months in 2023-24 to 19.91 in 2024-25), and those referred to a hearing (from 22.84 months in 2023-24 to 19.43 in 2024-25).
Cases closed at screening took an average of 0.96 months to conclude in 2024-25, down from 1.28 months in 2023-24.
The SSSC also continued to meet its target of having no less than 95% of cases that had been open for three years or less, with 97.1% in this category as of 31 March 2025, up from 95.8% as of 31 October 2023.
Fitness to practise timeframes in England
The figures come with the SSSC’s fellow regulator, Social Work England, striving to bring down fitness to practise timeframes in its own jurisdiction, with the help of increased budget this year.
The average length of cases that were investigated by Social Work England rose from 109 weeks (25.1 months) in 2022-23 to 110 weeks in 2023-24 and 113 weeks (26 months) in 2024-25, according to its latest annual report.
Though the number of referrals it received fell from 2022-23 (1,769) to 2023-24 (1,617), this rose sharply to 1,854 in 2024-25, with the average number per month continuing to grow during April to June this year.
The latest increase in referrals has absorbed the budget Social Work England has devoted to bolstering its triage process – where it screens cases to determine whether they merit investigation – cancelling out improvements it has made in processing cases at this stage.
How Scottish fitness to practise cases break down
The most common reason for a fitness to practise referral to SSSC in 2024-25 was inappropriate behaviour at work, which accounted for 696 concerns, followed by practice failings (425) and behaviour outside of work (185).
Most referrals were from current (1,402) or former (1,080) employers, with 939 being self-referrals and 807 from members of the public.
Social workers, social work students and children and young people’s workers were disproportionately less likely to be referred for fitness to practise in 2024-25 compared with their representation in the register.
For example, social workers accounted for 3.8% of referrals of registrants, while making up 6.2% of the register as of March 2025.
However, social care workers, who make up 63.8% of the register, were disproportionately more likely to be referred for fitness to practise, accounting for 77% of registrant referrals in 2024-25.
Case outcomes and representation
Of 1,407 investigated cases concluded in 2024-25, no action was taken against the registrant in 1,084 (77%), 139 (9.9%) resulted in the person being removed and 184 (13.1%) in another sanction, with these proportions being similar to those in each of the previous two years.
The SSSC said 169 cases were dealt with through hearings, with 30% of practitioners and students represented at these, a similar proportion to that in 2023-24 (29%).
The regulator added that it wanted to see more registrants represented as this could have a positive impact, and that it was working with organisations offering free legal advice to encourage them to provide this service.
Commenting on the report, SSSC chief executive Maree Allison said: “I am pleased that despite a slight increase in referrals we were able to reduce the time we take to conclude investigations.
“While it remains a very small minority of the workforce whose fitness to practise is investigated, it is important to us that we support everyone involved in the process through every step and continue to improve the way we work.”