Adult Support and Protection services in Scotland will always to be looking to improve, ensuring that adults at risk of harm receive services that suit their needs. The resources in this category will help leaders and managers to improve their ASP services, whether through policy or practice initiatives, or by supporting a learning culture more widely.
Adult Support and Protection (ASP) is everyone's business. This seven-minute briefing sets out what ASP is, defines an adult at risk, sets out the legal framework and contains several links to further resources.
This guidance supports consistent and transparent decision-making in the ‘conversion rate’ from ASP referral to ASP inquiry by considering:
This is an ASPire webinar from February 2026. It launches the National Adult Support and Protection Learning and Development Framework.
This is the first national multi-agency Framework for Adult Support and Protection Learning and Development. It has been produced to support the delivery of Adult Support and Protection learning across applicable agencies and sectors.
These are the slides from a 5 Nations webinar held in April 2025. This series of webinars shares adult support and protection / safeguarding knowledge across the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
The theme of this webinar is outcomes in Adult Support and Protection: how practitioners can tell that they are making a difference. There is one session:
This is an ASPire webinar from October 2025. Its theme is the Most Significant Change (MSC) model. This is a storytelling approach to gathering and exploring change outcomes. This approach can capture complexity and explore outcomes in ways that go beyond being 'moved' by someones experiences. The session is led by Nick Andrews (Swansea University).
This report is a joint national overview of learning review activity. Data in this report is drawn from learning review notifications from 19 adult protection committees (APCs) and 15 child protection committees (CPCs).
During the reporting periods, fifteen learning review reports were submitted to the Care Inspectorate for children and young people and thirteen for adults.
This is an ASPire webinar from August 2025. Its theme is sharing positive case studies and strength-based practice in Adult Support and Protection. It has sessions from Dundee HSCP (on strength-based practitioner reflection); South Ayrshire HSCP (on GIFRE - Getting It Right For Everyone); Stirling & Clacks HCSP (on hearing the family voice in Learning Reviews) and Iriss (on focusing on the good within ASP Joint Inspection Reports).
Slides for all sessions are also attached.
Following on from the Understanding Age report, an online session brought together Learning and Development (L&D) colleagues to understand how they disseminate the resource in their local areas. This report captures their thoughts and experiences, offering insights into the practices - and challenges - of embedding new knowledge within local areas.
This seven-minute briefing describes Adult Support and Protection Committees (ASPCs). It includes material on the background to ASPCs, the Chief Officers Group (COG), the ASPC's membership, and its aims and objectives.
There is also an accompanying multi-agency Powerpoint briefing.
