Guidance on Part 11 (Continuing Care) of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014

Disputes and Complaints

112. A young person receiving Continuing Care may make a complaint to the local authority about the service they have received or how any dispute has been handled. Complaints should be made through the normal methods of complaint about social work services under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 or any other appropriate complaints procedures for the local authority. Current Guidance and Directions on the 1968 Act procedure were laid out in Circular Number SWSG 5/1996 of 15 March 1996 ^[10] .

113. The 1968 Act procedure requires that the local authority instigate an informal problem solving stage where every attempt is made to resolve the complaint. If this is not successful, unresolved complaints will then be investigated by specially designated staff.

114. Local authorities should ensure that young people have knowledge, access to and support to engage with complaints procedures. This will mean that information, in a format which young people can understand, needs to be available as does other such support, for example advocacy.

115. Looked after disabled young people need access to complaints also and this might require additional support from the local authority.

116. The young person should also be made aware of other bodies they can seek advice from, such as the Care Inspectorate ^[11] or the Children and Young People's Commissioner Scotland ^[12] .

117. Once all local authority complaints procedures have been exhausted, a young person remaining aggrieved could raise a complaint with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman ^[13] .