Independent Advocacy
What is an independent advocate?
An advocate is an independent professional who is on your side supporting you to have a voice and letting your views and opinions be known.
Independent Advocacy includes:
- safeguarding people who are vulnerable, discriminated against or who face difficulties engaging with services.
- empowering and enabling people to explore and understand their options,
- informing people of their rights, and
- speaking on behalf of people who are unable to do so.
What can an independent advocate help you with?
Independent advocates can help people in situations such as:
- a meeting with the social work department.
- a GP or health appointment
- a housing issue
- benefits claims
- expressing peoples views to organisations that they use.
An independent advocate is not there to advise you about what to do, or to make decisions for you. They will discuss and explore the possible outcomes of any choice you make. They do not provide counselling, befriending, or legal advice.
Who can get independent advocacy?
People affected by the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 have a legal right to independent advocacy. This includes people with a learning disability, dementia, a mental health problem (for which a medical diagnosis is not required) or an acquired brain injury.
For anyone else, access to independent advocacy will depend on what is available in your area.
What are the different types of independent advocacy?
The main types of independent advocacy are:
Independent professional advocacy
Independent professional advocacy can be provided by a paid employee or a volunteer, it can be short term or long term, and it might be for a single issue or a number of issues.
Citizen’s advocacy
Citizen’s advocacy is most commonly available for people with a learning disability and is a long term one to one relationship.
Collective advocacy
Collective advocacy is a group of people who share a common issue and support each other both as a group and individually. The group may campaign on specific issues.
Complaints about independent advocacy
Each independent advocacy organisation has its own complaints procedure. You would initially write to the manager, but, if you are not satisfied with the outcome, you could then write to the organisation’s management board.
If you are still not satisfied, you could send your complaint to either the local council or NHS board, depending on who funds the organisation.
Is independent advocacy regulated?
The Principles and Standards for Independent Advocacy and Code of Practice for Independent Advocacy set the standard for independent advocacy in Scotland.
They are available on the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance (SIAA) website here http://www.siaa.org.uk/ and all members have signed up to them. Training is delivered by independent advocacy organisations, but a requirement of the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance membership is that the training is based on these principles and standards.
Find your local advocacy service:
Voiceability provides independent advocacy in some areas of Scotland. You can find out what is available locally here VoiceAbility | In Scotland
Voiceability also provides free advocacy for disabled people to help them to claim Social Security Scotland benefits. You can access this help by contacting Social Security Scotland on 0800 182 222 or by contacting Voiceability directly here VoiceAbility | Support to access benefits in Scotland
You can contact Voiceability via email by clicking this link: helpline.scotland@voiceability.org
The Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance supports and promotes independent advocacy organisations in Scotland. They have a directory of advocacy organisations covering all of Scotland. http://www.siaa.org.uk/
You can contact them on 0131 510 941, or via email: enquiry@siaa.org.uk
Disability Information Scotland
Contact our helpline on 0300 323 9961 for information on finding your local advocacy service or search our Scottish Disability Directory here https://www.disabilityscot.org.uk/information-help-advice/scottish-disability-directory/
Information last updated on 18th November 2024. Please note that information may be subject to change. All information is provided in good faith, but Disability Information Scotland does not endorse any product or service referred to within this resource.
We are grateful to the Scottish Government for funding this publication
