Care Inspectorate

What Care Inspectorate does

Care Inspectorate is the national assurance and improvement support body for social care services and social work in Scotland, operating as a non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. Established under the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 (originally as Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland, or SCSWIS), the organisation is headquartered in Dundee with 501-1,000 employees and exercises statutory authority to register, inspect, evaluate, and enforce standards across four regulated sectors: adult social care, early learning and childcare, children and young people's services, and justice-related social work. Its remit spans care homes, home care, nurseries, childminders, fostering and adoption services, and community justice, with strategic scrutiny extending to local Health and Social Care Partnerships and Integration Authorities.

The organisation runs a unified digital platform comprising a public-facing Care Service Register (allowing citizens to search providers and view inspection reports), a Digital Portal for providers to manage registration and compliance, an eForms system for notifications and annual returns, and a personalised My Dashboard. It also publishes sector-specific quality frameworks and self-evaluation tools, and operates improvement programmes including the Care Home Improvement Programme, Digital Social Care, Safe Staffing (under the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019), and Anne's Law.

Care Inspectorate is funded entirely by the Scottish Government through grant-in-aid rather than commercial revenue; its public-facing services are free to citizens, while registration fees may apply to care providers. Distribution is direct-to-consumer and self-serve via web channels (website, digital portal, eForms, contact centre, social media), and key strategic partnerships include the Scottish Government (funder/principal), Disclosure Scotland (PVG scheme), local Health and Social Care Partnerships, and national review collaborations on safeguarding matters.

Name

Care Inspectorate

Legal name

Care Inspectorate

Website

https://careinspectorate.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Care Inspectorate is Scotland's statutory regulator for care services, funded by the Scottish Government. It registers, inspects, grades, and supports improvement across adult social care, early learning and childcare, children and young people's services, and justice social work.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Social Care Regulation

akta.pro primary industry

Regulatory Compliance Audits & Inspections (EDACAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Safeguarding, Student Welfare & Child Protection Compliance Audits (EDADAGAI), Quality Monitoring, Advocacy & Ongoing Care Plan Review (HSABAIAO), Education Ombudsman, Appeals & Complaints Offices (EDADAAAK)

Keywords

• Care service regulation
• Social care inspection
• Quality improvement support
• Early learning childcare
• Strategic scrutiny

Headquarters

HQ city

Dundee

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: Funded by the Scottish Government as a national regulatory and improvement body for social care services and social work

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Care Inspectorate is Scotland's national assurance and improvement support body for social care services and social work. It registers, inspects, and grades care services including care homes, nurseries, childminders, fostering and adoption agencies, and supports care providers with quality improvement programmes. It also maintains a public register of care services, handles complaints from the public, and publishes strategic scrutiny reports on local partnership performance.

Product overview

Care Inspectorate operates a unified digital platform consisting of a public-facing Care Service Register for finding and reviewing care services, a Digital Portal for providers to manage their registrations and compliance, and an eForms system for submitting notifications and updates. Additional offerings include My Dashboard for personalized service tracking, Quality Frameworks and Self-Evaluation Tools tailored to different care sectors (adults, early learning, children and young people), and a Strategic Scrutiny Reports Library. These interconnected tools work together to support the organization's role as Scotland's national assurance and improvement support body for social care services and social work.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Digital Portal

Quantifiable outcome

• National coverage of all registered care services in Scotland

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Scottish GovernmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFunded by and accountable to the Scottish Government as the national regulatory and improvement body for social care services and social work in Scotland
• Local PartnershipscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorks with local partnerships including Health Boards, Local Authorities, and Integration Authorities to support quality improvement and strategic scrutiny across Scotland
• Disclosure ScotlandcoreTechnology or IntegrationCollaboration on PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) scheme matters related to care service staff vetting and certification
• Health and Social Care PartnershipscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint working with Integration Authorities responsible for health and social care services at local level
• National Review of Group-based Child Sexual Abuse and ExploitationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational review collaboration addressing group-based child sexual abuse and exploitation across Scotland

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Ofsted: UK-wide regulator for education and children's services, including early years and social care inspection in England. Comparable in regulatory philosophy (graded inspection reports, public register) though broader scope covering schools.
• Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC): Scottish regulator for the social services workforce, responsible for registering and regulating social workers and care staff. Closely related — covers the people-side of the same sector Care Inspectorate regulates at the service-level.
• Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS): Scottish national body overseeing healthcare quality, including inspection of independent healthcare services. Overlaps with Care Inspectorate in Scottish quality assurance and may absorb or share scrutiny of certain provider types.

Direct peers

• Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW): Wales's regulator of social care and early years services. Operates the same statutory inspection, registration, and quality-grading model as Care Inspectorate Scotland, including a public register of services and provider self-assessment tools.
• Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA): Northern Ireland's independent body for inspecting and reviewing the availability and quality of health and social care services. Directly comparable in mandate, including inspection regimes and published inspection reports.
• Care Quality Commission (CQC): England's independent regulator of health and adult social care. Most direct peer — performs registration, inspection, and grading of care providers, and operates a comparable public-facing evaluation register, just at UK-England scale.

Others

• Inspection Support Network (ISN): Supplier of digital inspection, scheduling, and reporting software used by care regulators and healthcare inspection bodies globally. Enabling technology peer relevant to Care Inspectorate's digital portal/eForms roadmap.
• Disclosure Scotland: Scottish Government body running PVG (Protecting Vulnerable Groups) scheme. Confirmed partner of Care Inspectorate for vetting care service staff — adjacent enabling function within the same regulatory ecosystem.

Regional players

• Social Care Wales: Welsh workforce and service-improvement body for social care. Comparable to Scottish counterparts in mission but focuses on workforce registration and development rather than service inspection.
• Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland: Scottish body responsible for monitoring the welfare and rights of people with mental illness, learning disability, and related conditions. Operates overlapping scrutiny functions over a subset of providers also regulated by Care Inspectorate.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/careinspectorate
• Facebookfacebook.com/careinspectorate
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/care-inspectorate
• Instagraminstagram.com/careinspectorate
• Xx.com/careinspect

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Care Inspectorate