Digital

ScotAccount recognised for having significant impact on public services

February 21, 2025 by deborahamzil No Comments | Category Digital, Digital Identity, ScotAccount, Scotland's Digital Strategy

Blog post by Scottish Government’s ScotAccount team.

The ScotAccount team were delighted to join colleagues from Disclosure Scotland at the Holyrood Connect Digital Health and Care Awards in Edinburgh on 18th February 2025. The teams were thrilled to be short-listed for the Digital Service Transformation Award for their collaborative delivery of ‘PVG Online’. 

The Digital Health and Care Awards recognise the achievements of individuals and teams working in the health, social care, and housing sectors, whose innovation and creativity continue to put Scotland at the forefront of the digital revolution. 

Digital Health & Care logo card at event. Image courtesy of Holyrood Connect. Photographer: Andrew Perry.

The award for Digital Service Transformation celebrates an individual or organisation that has developed and deployed an innovative digital approach, allowing for the effective delivery of health, social care or housing support. 

Trudy Nicolson, ScotAccount’s Programme Director, said:   

“The ScotAccount team is thrilled by receiving this joint nomination for Disclosure Scotland’s Online Account service, and to be recognised as being a critical part of the digital transformation of a service that is having a significant impact on peoples’ lives and public services in Scotland.” 

Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland, said: 

“This is a fantastic achievement for our flagship digital service, and we are delighted to be nominated for this award. Alongside ScotAccount, we are helping transform the way people access Scotland’s public services online.  

 “Our PVG online account service is used by many different health and social care organisations and professionals throughout Scotland already. However, our journey to this point, arose from challenging circumstances.  

“While facing a global health pandemic, we swiftly moved our service online and through the provision of free PVGs for health and social care professionals we supported Covid-19 recruitment efforts in these areas. Following the success of this, we have rolled out our online service so that everyone can benefit.  

“I would like to thank Disclosure Scotland and ScotAccount colleagues for their perseverance and hard work and the Health and Social Care sector who have supported us in making this service a reality and a digital success.” 

Disclosure Scotland Digital Director Andrew Cunningham added: 

“Organisations have told us how much they welcome our new online results service, which is easy to use, protects sensitive personal information and is more secure and efficient. They have praised the huge positive impact on time of processing and onboarding, which means that people can start sooner in essential roles while working with children and vulnerable adults. 

“We’re proud to have partnered with Scottish Government to deliver ScotAccount. This is an innovative and excellent example of a collaboration to improve public services, by developing efficient digital tools that can be used again and again.” 

David Duncan-Fraser, Head of Operations for ScotAccount, said: 

“We are excited about our ongoing collaboration with Disclosure Scotland to provide secure and user-friendly access to online applications and results. Recognition from the Digital Health and Care Awards reinforces our commitment to this work in supporting users to create their accounts, and verify their identity, if necessary, to access public services. Looking ahead, we aim to extend ScotAccount’s reach across other areas of the public sector including criminal justice and financial assistance, while continuing our partnerships in health and social care.”  

Our journey with Disclosure Scotland 

ScotAccount, went live in partnership with Disclosure Scotland at the end of February 2023. ScotAccount was integrated into Disclosure Scotland’s new online service, providing users with digital access to their disclosure results.

By providing a way for applicants to login securely and verify their identity, Disclosure Scotland no longer needs to post a certificate to applicants. This has cut down on manual processing, postage costs, and sped up recruitment for positions that require a PVG check.   

This has allowed organisations to carry out vital background checks, enabling frontline health and social care staff to be recruited more quickly and successfully placed within hospitals and care homes across Scotland. 

With the public launch of the PVG online account service to all service users in November 2024, and roll out of Accounts Online on 11th February 2025, more people across Scotland will now be able to apply for a basic disclosure and view their results online. Disclosure Scotland continues to reach thousands more people across Scotland.   

In partnership with ScotAccount, Disclosure Scotland is the first organisation to use this new online sign in and verification service and is leading the way for other public sector organisations in this area. 

How ScotAccount can support your digital transformation journey 

ScotAccount delivers on Scotland’s Digital Strategy commitment to provide people with a secure and simple way to sign in and, if required, verify their identity to access a variety of public services online.  

ScotAccount has already played a critical role in the digital transformation of Disclosure Scotland’s key services. The team looks forward to our continued partnership with Disclosure Scotland and supporting other important services like the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s Witness Gateway, Accountant in Bankruptcy’s online case management system, and the Register of Tobacco and Nicotine Vapour Product Retailers. 

As ScotAccount continues to be adopted by Scotland’s public sector organisations, its roll out will make it easier for people to access services online – saving time, money, and effort for both the user and the public service. 

ScotAccount Explainer Animation – Service Customer – YouTube

Find out more 

If you work for a public service organisation and are interested in finding out more about ScotAccount, you can visit our service pages. 

You can hear more about ScotAccount and other digital projects by subscribing to the Scottish Government Digital Scotland newsletter for regular updates and catch up on the story so far by reading past blog posts on the topic. 

Tags: digital, digital identity, digital public services, Disclosure Scotland, ScotAccount

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