Falkirk Council creates new jobs to handle demand of people in care left waiting months for records

dailyrecord.co.uk:

People who were in care as children have been waiting for months to get access to records from Falkirk Council with two new jobs being created to handle demand.

Now, with a recent increase in requests due to the ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, members of Falkirk Council's children, young people and education executive have agreed to create the new posts to tackle the backlog.The staff will be part of an Information Rights team dedicated to collating and preparing the information which is often lengthy, complex and distressing for those who want to know more about the details of their lives in the past.Councillors heard that the council has been struggling to meet its statutory obligation to give people access to their records, particularly during the pandemic when social work staff were on the frontline.Those making subject access requests (SARs) often want to see all the historic information held about their childhood, with records that can relate to involvement in child protection processes or their care history.And the number of people seeking access to their records is very likely to increase in the months and years ahead.The ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry was set up in October 2015 to investigate the nature and extent of abuse of children in care in Scotland within the period of living memory of any person who suffered abuse up until December 17, 2014.The massive investigation is expected to hear evidence until at least 2025 before it reports to Scottish Ministers with recommendations about any changes it considers necessary to protect children in the future.But it has already established the Redress Scotland scheme, which aims to provide survivors of historical child abuse in care in Scotland with some