How we deal with complaints about care

We have a duty to protect people and we will refer all complaints that we consider have an element of adult or child protection to the relevant social work agencies and/or Police Scotland. Where a complaint may relate to a criminal matter, for example, relating to a theft or an assault, we will refer this to Police Scotland to investigate.

We will let you know that we have referred the complaint but will not ask your permission to share the information. This is because we are legally obligated to share information relating to criminal offences and to public protection.

We will hold this compliant, but not progress the complaint, until the protection issues or criminal investigations have been assessed by the relevant organisations. If the other organisation is going to progress the concerns then we will close the complaint case. If the other organisation is not going to progress the complaint, we will progress the complaint through our resolution pathways.