Compliance guidance

Childminder compliance
in Scotland.

Scotland has some of the most detailed early years compliance requirements in the UK. The Care Inspectorate regulates all registered childminders and inspects against a clear quality framework. Clariti applies every Scottish requirement automatically, from your registered postcode, so nothing is missed.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
Regulator Care Inspectorate
Who regulates you
Care Inspectorate

The Care Inspectorate is Scotland's independent regulator of social care and social work services, including all registered childminders. Inspections are unannounced and assess quality against the shared Quality Improvement Framework for the early learning and childcare sectors, which the Care Inspectorate applies to childminding and school age childcare.

The frameworks that apply to you.

Quality Improvement Framework

The shared Quality Improvement Framework for the early learning and childcare sectors, applied by the Care Inspectorate to childminding and school age childcare. This is the primary framework against which Scottish childminders are inspected.

Curriculum for Excellence

The national curriculum framework for Scotland, covering all children from age 3 to 18. Childminders supporting children aged 3 and over may draw upon the early level of Curriculum for Excellence to support learning and development. Clariti maps observations to the relevant CfE experiences and outcomes where appropriate.

Realising the Ambition: Being Me

The Scottish Government's national practice guidance for early years. It sets out what high-quality early learning and childcare looks like in practice. Clariti references this guidance in observations and care plans.

SHANARRI and GIRFEC

Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) is Scotland's approach to supporting children's wellbeing. The eight SHANARRI indicators, Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, and Included, sit at the heart of GIRFEC and must be evidenced in every child's file.

Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014

The primary legislation underpinning GIRFEC, the Named Person service, and Child's Plan provisions. It places statutory duties on service providers in relation to children's wellbeing. Clariti documents are designed with these duties in mind.

National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 (updated 2023)

The statutory safeguarding guidance for Scotland. All childminders must follow this guidance. Clariti's safeguarding policy generation references this guidance directly.

Health and Social Care Standards

The standards against which the Care Inspectorate inspects all registered services. Clariti generates documentation that evidences compliance with these standards throughout.

Food Standards Scotland

Scottish childminders providing food must comply with Food Standards Scotland requirements, including allergen awareness and food hygiene obligations. Clariti includes food and allergen risk assessment prompts.

UNCRC

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is embedded in Scottish law through the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024. All Clariti documents reference children's rights consistently.

What paperwork you need to have.

Policies and procedures

Scottish childminders must have written policies covering safeguarding, health and safety, confidentiality, complaints, administration of medication, mobile phones, and more. Clariti generates every required policy with the correct Scottish legislative references.

Risk assessments

A separate risk assessment is required for every space children use, every regular outing, and specific activities. Reviews must be documented when circumstances change. Clariti tracks review dates and alerts you when one is due.

Children's files

A full file for every minded child including personal information, emergency contacts, permissions, and the My Plan (or equivalent) document. Clariti structures each file and keeps all information connected.

Observations and learning records

Regular written observations evidencing each child's learning and development mapped to Curriculum for Excellence and Realising the Ambition. Clariti generates structured observations from your notes.

Training log

Evidence of qualifications, SSSC registration, first aid certificates, and CPD. Renewal alerts mean nothing lapses. Note: since 1 April 2026, PVG membership is no longer lifetime. Renewal is now required every five years. Clariti tracks your PVG renewal date and alerts you when action is needed.

Self-evaluation

The Care Inspectorate expects childminders to self-evaluate their practice continuously. Clariti builds your self-evaluation automatically from all activity across the platform.

Accident and incident records

All accidents, incidents, and near misses must be recorded and, where required, reported to the Care Inspectorate. Clariti provides structured recording for all three.

How Clariti helps

Everything above, handled.

When you register with Clariti, your postcode tells the platform which nation you are in. Every document, framework reference, and legislative citation is applied automatically. You never need to know which framework applies. Clariti handles it and generates inspection-ready documents built specifically for Scotland.

Nation-specific from day one
Your postcode determines your nation. Every document uses the correct frameworks and legislation for Scotland automatically.
Inspection-ready documents
Policies, risk assessments, observations, care plans, and training records all generated to the standard inspectors expect.
Self-evaluation builds itself
Everything you complete feeds your self-evaluation automatically. Live gap indicators show exactly where your evidence needs attention.
Join the Clariti waitlist

Common questions from Scottish childminders

Scottish childminders must have written policies covering safeguarding and child protection, health and safety, administration of medication, confidentiality, complaints, mobile phones and social media, and more. The Care Inspectorate expects all policies to be current, setting-specific, and available for inspection. Clariti generates every required policy with the correct Scottish legislative references.
The Care Inspectorate does not publish a fixed inspection cycle. Inspections are unannounced and can happen at any time. New childminders are typically inspected within their first year of registration. The frequency of subsequent inspections is influenced by previous grades and any concerns raised. The best approach is to treat every day as inspection-ready.
Yes. All registered childminders in Scotland must hold a PVG scheme membership. From 1 April 2026, lifetime PVG membership ended. PVG membership now requires renewal every five years. Clariti tracks your renewal date and alerts you before it is due.
SHANARRI stands for Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible, and Included. These eight wellbeing indicators are at the heart of Getting It Right for Every Child (GIRFEC), Scotland's approach to supporting all children. Childminders are expected to consider each indicator when planning for and recording children's wellbeing. Clariti embeds SHANARRI into observations and care plans automatically.
The Quality Improvement Framework is the shared framework used by the Care Inspectorate to inspect childminding and school age childcare in Scotland. It replaced earlier quality indicator frameworks and provides a consistent basis for self-evaluation and inspection. Clariti's self-evaluation feature is built around this framework.
Some childcare professionals in Scotland are required to register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). Childminders should check the latest SSSC registration requirements relevant to their role and setting. Clariti's training log helps you record and track any registration requirements that apply to you.

Further reading from the Clariti blog

Care Inspectorate inspection guide → Risk assessment guide → Policies guide →

Clariti covers all four UK nations. Read the compliance guide for:

Stop guessing.
Start Clariti.

Join the waitlist and be first in line when Clariti launches. Founding Member pricing is £15 per month, locked for 2 years, for the first 500 sign-ups.

Join the Founding Member Waitlist