National Care Service - justice social work: overview

Information on range of services

The information on justice social work in 2020-21 has been impacted by the nationwide lockdowns and other measures put in place to limit social contact during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This has had a substantial impact on social work activity. For example, Chart 3 shows the large decrease in volumes being experienced for social work orders. It has been decided to report evidence in this paper mainly on 2019-20 activity, as these statistics were mostly pre-pandemic and better describe the volume of work supported by justice social workers in Scotland. (Any references to the last five years are taken at from 2019-20, unless otherwise stated). The main source of this information is taken from the National Statistics publication series: Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics in Scotland. (Any other sources will be referenced accordingly.)

Diversion from prosecution

Social workers provide support for diversion from prosecution. Diversion from prosecution schemes have been in existence in Scotland since the early 1980s and aim to provide support and advice in relation to the underlying causes of offending, such as substance use.

• During 2019-20, there were around 3,100 referrals, 2,800 assessments and 1,600 cases completed.
• In 2019-20, there were 1,990 cases commenced for diversion from prosecution covering 1,930 individuals. A small number of these cases were referred to drug or alcohol treatment or mental health services.
• Two–thirds of diversion of prosecution cases were for males in 2019-20.
• The age profile shows that younger people’s cases are more likely to be diverted. (Chart 1).
• The cases for 16 to 20 years old have represented 43 per cent of the total cases commenced in the last 5 years.
• Where ethnicity was known, four per cent of cases commenced in 2019-20 were for people of minority ethnicity.