National Care Service: Justice Social Work research

Glossary of acronyms and key terms

Caledonian programme / system: A domestic abuse intervention usually delivered by justice social workers. Involves a structured programme for perpetrators, aimed at addressing the issues/attitudes underpinning their offending, as well as working with their current/ex-partners and children.

Clients: used in this report to refer to people involved in the justice system in receipt of support or services through Justice Social Work This might include receiving a variety of different types of support and supervision, including supervision on unpaid work orders, attending domestic abuse rehabilitation groups, support from a specialist Women’s Service, and more general one-to-one JSW throughcare support on leaving prison. ‘Service users’ is sometimes used as an alternative term, but for consistency this report uses ‘clients’.

CJP: Community Justice Partnership. Work towards community justice outcomes in the local community bringing together all the key local agencies with an interest/input to this, including the local authority, Health and Social Care Partnership, Police, Prisons, Courts, Alcohol and Drug Partnerships, Victim Support etc.

CJS: Community Justice Scotland. The national leadership body for community justice in Scotland. Established by the Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016, CJS has a statutory duty to promote the Scottish Government’s Community Justice Strategy and to monitor the performance of each local authority area in achievement of community justice outcomes. It also provides advice and guidance and makes national and local improvement recommendations where appropriate.

COPFS: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scotland's public prosecution authority.

CPO: Community Payback Order. A court-issued community sentence that someone may receive. Requirements that can be imposed as part of CPOs (either in conjunction or separately) include: unpaid work orders; drug, alcohol or mental health treatment requirements; attendance at a specific programme aimed at addressing offending behaviour (e.g. the Caledonian System or Moving Forward: Making Changes); or general attendance at supervision appointments with JSW.

Diversion from prosecution: An alternative to prosecution available to the COPFS (public prosecutor) whereby individuals, who, typically, have committed a first-time, isolated or low risk offence, are directed away from formal legal proceedings in the courts and referred to social work departments or other services for support or rehabilitation. This mechanism aims to prevent reoffending by dealing with the root causes of the behaviour.

DTTO: Drug Treatment and Testing Order. A court issued order for treatment, regular testing, and review under social work supervision.

HSCP: Health and Social Care Partnership. Introduced following the 2014 Public Bodies (Joint working) (Scotland) Act, HSCPs are partnerships that bring together NHS and local authority services with the aim of improving local health and social care services (referred to as ‘health and social care integration’). HSCPs are all responsible for adult social care, adult primary health care and unscheduled adult hospital care. Some (but not all) HSCPs are also responsible for children’s services, homelessness and Justice Social Work. See also Health and Social Care Scotland - Integration

IJB: Integration Joint Board. A collaborative healthcare structure that integrates Health Boards and Local Authorities for managing and delivering combined health and social care services. IJBs are tasked with overseeing the provision of health and social care services (as described under HSCP, above).

IRASC: Independent Review of Adult Social Care. An independent review, commissioned by the Scottish Government and chaired by Derek Feeley (sometimes referred to as ‘the Feeley Review’ or ‘the Feeley report’), to recommend improvements to adult social care in Scotland. The final report was published in 2021.

JSW: Justice Social Work.

KPI: Key Performance Indicator. A measurable value that demonstrates how effectively an organisation is achieving its key objectives.

LS/CMI: The Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI), a risk assessment and management tool, commonly used in criminal justice in Scotland. It is used by all community and prison-based justice social work services to aid decisions on the level and focus of supervision with people (aged 16+) who have been involved in offending.

NCS: National Care Service. A bill to create a National Care Service, with the aim of improving the quality and consistency of social services in Scotland, was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in June 2022. The Bill provided a framework for the setting up of the Service, with the substantive detail to follow.

Paraprofessional: someone who works within the JSW team to help deliver services but is not a qualified social worker. Includes Social Work Assistants and Criminal Justice Support Workers.

Procurator Fiscal: a legal professional responsible for prosecuting criminal offences. Employed by COPFS (see above).

SACRO: Scottish Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders. SACRO is a community justice organisation that supports communities and individuals, including both those harmed by crime and those responsible for that harm, with the aim of reducing reoffending and making communities safer.

SCTS: Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. A public body providing administrative support to Scottish courts and tribunals and to the judiciary.

SPS: Scottish Prison Service. A branch of the Scottish Government entrusted with the custody of individuals sentenced by the Courts. SPS is accountable to the Scottish Parliament and operates under The Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2011.

SSSC: The Scottish Social Services Council is the regulator with responsibility for the social work workforce in Scotland. All social workers in justice social work are required to be registered with the SSSC, who also set standards for practice, conduct, training and education.

Throughcare: support provided by justice social work to people sentenced to prison and who will be subject to post release supervision, from the point of sentence, through their prison term, to after their release. It serves both a public protection function (supervision/monitoring of risk) and a rehabilitation/reintegration purpose.