Guide
Which care services must register in Scotland?
Updated
Scotland does not work like England. There is no list of regulated activities: there is a statutory list of care services, and if what you provide is one of them, you register.
The statutory list
Section 47(1) of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 defines a care service as any of the following:
- a support service
- a care home service
- a school care accommodation service
- a nurse agency
- a child care agency
- a secure accommodation service
- an offender accommodation service
- an adoption service
- a fostering service
- an adult placement service
- child minding
- day care of children
- a housing support service
- a child contact service
The child contact service category was inserted in November 2025 by the Regulation of Care (Child Contact Services) (Scotland) Order 2025. Schedule 12 of the Act provides the definitions for each of these, and the definitions are where borderline cases are decided, so read the schedule rather than the label.
Registration is compulsory, and unregistered operation is an offence
The Care Inspectorate states plainly that by law care services in Scotland must be registered with it, and that you must not provide a care service if you are not registered. Section 80 of the 2010 Act makes it an offence to provide a care service while not registered, or to pretend with intent to deceive that a service is registered: on summary conviction that carries a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, imprisonment for up to three months, or both.
Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland are four different systems
| Nation | Regulator | Registration turns on |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | Care Inspectorate | Being one of the care services listed in section 47 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 |
| England | Care Quality Commission | Carrying on a regulated activity under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 |
| Wales | Care Inspectorate Wales | Providing a regulated service defined in Schedule 1 to the Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 |
| Northern Ireland | RQIA | Its own registration regime, separate from all three of the above |
A provider operating across the border needs two registrations, not one. Nothing about a Care Inspectorate registration carries into England or Wales, and the assessment criteria, the fees and the timescales are all different.
What you also have to keep doing once registered
- Meet the Health and Social Care Standards published by the Scottish Government, which the Care Inspectorate uses to assess the quality of services.
- Display your certificate of registration so that anyone using the service can read it.
- Keep the records the Care Inspectorate lists for registered services, and make the notifications it requires.
- Pay the annual continuation fee. See the fee bands.