Court Services

The objective of the Court Social Work Unit is to deal with all matters of Social Work in the Criminal Justice system.

The provision of Social Work Services to the Court is one of the Justice Services directly funded by the Scottish Government. These services are regulated by the National Objectives and Standards which are applicable to all 100 funded Justice Services.

Key elements of Justice court work are:

• Administering arrangements to ensure that reports requested or required by Courts are prepared and social work staff are available, where required, to address reports including providing supplementary information.
• Interviewing offenders or accused persons who have received a custodial sentence or remand prior to leaving Court, to assess risk of self-harm and to establish if there are matters which may require practical assistance in view of the custodial sentence, such as child care arrangements or prescribed medication.
• Implementing Court decisions on offenders who have received community based disposals such as Community Payback, Probation or Unpaid Work Orders (issuing appointments to attend for Health & Safety Induction within National Objectives and Standards timescales).
• Identifying persons appearing before the Court who may be vulnerable on grounds of youth, age or mental or physical illness and providing help and support as appropriate.
• Liaison between Court, Social Work staff, Sheriffs and all other services involved in the court process to ensure effective administration of justice.

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