Too many disabled children and young people’s views, feelings and wishes are not being heard by social work services, according to the quality watchdog.

The Care Inspectorate has found the increasingly complex needs of young people and their families continues to outweigh the current level of available support.

A third of the children and young people who completed the survey felt unable to make choices about the support they received.

High workloads and difficulties in recruitment and retention of staff were found by the review to be significant barriers to equitable and high-quality support.

The Care Inspectorate is calling for a national conversation on the future of disabled children’s social work and care support, in light of current financial and resource pressures.

Chief Executive, Jackie Irvine, said good practice examples found during the review of nurturing, compassionate care and support must become the norm:

“The responsibility for improvement sits with us all and cannot be made through local action alone.

“Scottish government, public authorities, national and local organisations must work alongside disabled children and their families to take the action collectively to respect and uphold the rights of disabled children and young people.

“In light of current financial and resource pressures, a national conversation is required about the reality of resourcing and the impact on disabled children’s lives.

“Only when all these elements come together will Scotland realise its ambitions to become the best place in the world for a child to grow up, with opportunities for all in Scotland to flourish.”

It comes after Pam Duncan-Glancy’s Member's Bill to support disabled children into adulthood fell at Stage 1.

The Scottish government has since committed to publish a transition to adulthood strategy by the end of 2024.

The Care Inspectorate’s report echoed the unpredictability and uncertainty faced by many disabled young people at this stage in their life.

Thresholds and eligibility criteria, applied by adult social work services in response to resource pressures, were seen by care, parents and staff as barriers to person centred care.

Little progress has been made to improve data collection around disabled children’s and young people’s care in Scotland, which the Care Inspectorate said only makes it harder for local authorities to ensure equal access and the right funding is in place.

This has led to an overreliance on parents and unpaid carers, who themselves are not always well supported, according to the review.

Staff in social work services told the Care Inspectorate they were eager to improve the services they provide but were not always sure what they could do to make a difference.

The Care Inspectorate is recommending that a national ‘community of practice’, to support the sharing of information and examples of good practice, is taken forward to drive positive change.

Read more: Children services need more than structural change; Children’s care workers secure £12 an hour minimum

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