2025 No. 388 (C. 31)

SOCIAL CARE

The Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2025

Made4th December 2025

Laid before the Scottish Parliament8th December 2025

Coming into force7th January 2026

The Scottish Ministers make the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 38(1) and 39(2) of the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025¹ and all other powers enabling them to do so.

1 Citation, commencement and interpretation¶

1 These Regulations may be cited as the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2025 and come into force on 7 January 2026.

2 In these Regulations, “the Act” means the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025.

2 Appointed days¶

1 7 January 2026 is the day appointed for the coming into force of the provisions of the Act specified in column 1 of the table in Part 1 of the schedule (the subject matter of which is described in the corresponding entry in column 2 of that table).

2 Where a purpose is specified in column 3 of that table, the corresponding provision comes into force on 7 January 2026 for that purpose only.

3 31 March 2026 is the day appointed for the coming into force of section 14 of the Act for all remaining purposes.

4 1 April 2026 is the day appointed for the coming into force of the provisions of the Act specified in column 1 of the table in Part 2 of the schedule (the subject matter of which is described in the corresponding entry in column 2 of that table).

5 30 April 2026 is the day appointed for the coming into force of section 36 of the Act.

Schedule ¶

Appointed days

Regulation 2(1)

Part 1 Provisions of the Act coming into force on 7 January 2026¶

Column 1 (provision of the Act)	Column 2 (subject matter)	Column 3 (purpose)
Section 1	Ministers to facilitate creation of records
Section 9(1) and (2)	Adult carer support plan
Section 10(1) and (2)	Young carer statement
Section 11	Minor modifications in relation to carers
Section 13	Promotion of support for carers
Section 14	Visits to or by care home residents	For all purposes, with the exception of the insertion of section 78G of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010 ².
Section 16	Reserving the right to participate in procurement by type of organisation
Section 18	Ethical commissioning guidance
Section 20	Scottish Social Services Council’s power to require information
Section 21	Delegation of functions under Part 1 of the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 ³
Section 22	Cancellation of care service registration
Section 23	Assistance in inspections from Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Section 24	Provision of information by and to health care services
Section 25	National Chief Social Work Adviser and National Social Work Agency
Section 33	Fair work strategy
Section 34	Report on fair work

Part 2 Provisions of the Act coming into force on 1 April 2026¶

Column 1 (provision of the Act)	Column 2 (subject matter)
Section 31	Report on social care market
Section 32	Power to obtain information for the purposes of section 31

Explanatory Note¶

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations bring various provisions of the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 (“the Act”) into force. The Bill for the Act received Royal Assent on 22 July 2025. By virtue of section 39(1) of the Act, both section 30 and the entirety of Part 3 of the Act came into force on the following day.

Regulation 2(1), read in conjunction with regulation 2(2) and the table in Part 1 of the schedule, appoints 7 January 2026 for the coming into force of sections 1, 9(1) and 9(2), 10(1) and 10(2), 11, 13, 14 (for all purposes, with the exception of the insertion of section 78G of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010), 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 33 and 34. Regulation 2(3) appoints 31 March 2026 for the coming into force of section 14 of the Act for all remaining purposes. Regulation 2(4), read in conjunction with the table in Part 2 of the schedule, appoints 1 April 2026 for the coming into force of sections 31 and 32. Regulation 2(5) appoints 30 April 2026 for the coming into force of section 36.

Footnotes

1
2025 asp 9.
2
2010 asp 8.
3
2001 asp 8.