Social Justice and Social Security Committee 11 December 2025
We already provide a nationwide service. We are efficient, we are customer centred, and we will absolutely put the advocacy partners at the centre of our advocacy work. We have agile systems and we have relationships with more than 1,500 organisations the length and breadth of Scotland.
We will welcome the current advocates who work for VoiceAbility, under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations. We will work with the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance, and we will take up a membership with it.
We will build a referral pathway for advice to make sure that we do not cross the line between advocacy and advice, but we are not going to make people tell their stories several times. We will absolutely seek out lived experience input. We have already started that with some sessions in our office in Glasgow and online.
We will engage with Social Security Scotland. I am just waiting for an appointment date with David Wallace so that we can discuss how we can improve the referrals from Social Security Scotland before we start.
We will engage with the third sector and local authorities, with a particular focus on departments that have disability experience. We will also work with health boards, looking at their advocacy plans to make sure that there is no duplication and that people know where we fit into those. We will immediately take feedback from advocacy partners when we start delivering the service, because feedback is key.