Reporting on Our Business Plan

Our Performance and Targets

SCRA introduced a new target around making an initial decision on a referral within 5 working days in 2025/26. The aim of this target is to ensure decisions around the level of information required in order to make a final decision on a referral are taken as soon as possible. Performance at 85.6% was slightly below the 86% target (by 0.4 percentage points (pp)) and is rated as amber.

Decision making by Reporters within 50 working days at 72.9% was up 0.9 pp compared to 2024/25. It was slightly below the 74% target and was rated as amber for the year. In terms of delays in case processing, on average, 3.8% of referrals were open beyond 100 working days in the year. This was marginally above the 3.7% target and this measure is therefore also rated as amber.

Reporters are reliant on partner agencies to provide reports and information to help them make the right decision for a child. The time taken to receive this information continues to be impacted by resourcing pressures experienced by some local authority social work teams.

The scheduling of grounds Hearings within 20 working days of a Reporter decision to arrange a Hearing was up 5.9 pp in the year to 75.8%. The performance in 2025/26 continues the improvements seen since the pandemic and the prioritisation that was required at that time. Performance was marginally below the 76% target and is rated as amber.

Short term absence at 1.7% was within the 2% target and was 0.2pp lower than the prior year.

Short term absence meeting the target will be in part staff having more flexibility about where they work from even when they are feeling unwell, but not unwell enough to be absent from work. This reduction may also be a result of the various health and wellbeing activites that SCRA has in place, such as the Employee Assistance Programme, vicarious trauma support, and menopause support.

Long term absence at 4.1% was up 0.2pp from the prior year and still well above the 2% target. We recognise that long term absence remains a challenge in terms of available resources. We work closely with managers pre, during and post long term absence to ensure that the most appropriate supports are in place to sustain the employee at work.

Of the finance targets, the revenue spend target was rated as amber at 2.6% below budget against a target of being within 1% of budget. This was due to the updated Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act implementation timetable from the Scottish Government. The capital spends target was 3.1% below budget against a target of being within 5% of budget and was rated as green. Capital resource underspend was due to slippage in projects and additional resource being made available at Spring Budget Revision. The efficiency savings target was met.