Scottish Social Services Workforce Data
Mental Health Officers' reports
Mental Health Officers' reports have been produced and published by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) since December 2012. Before that, the reports were collated and published by the Scottish Government whose 2010/11 and 2011/12 editions were designated by the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) as National Statistics publications. The reports produced by the SSSC also carry that National Statistics designation.
Up to March 2012, the MHO reports presented information on qualified MHOs who were practising in Scotland on 31 March. Later in 2012, the timing of the MHO census survey was changed to December to bring it into line with the LASWS staff census survey and the Care Inspectorate's annual returns (CIARs) from all registered care services. Accordingly, the MHO data for December 2012 and 2013 is not directly comparable with that of previous MHO reports, but it is comparable with the corresponding annual LASWS census data.
The 2007/08 survey results were published in issue 19 of the Mental Health Officers in Scotland newsletter in the winter of 2008/09. The newsletter section containing the 2007/08 survey results can be found here.
August 2025
Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2024
26
Aug
2025
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) today published the Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2024.
The Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2024 presents information on:
The number of practising MHOs in post at 2nd December 2024, excluding long-term absentees.
MHO trainees, leavers, vacancies and staffing shortfalls.
Key characteristics of the MHO workforce (e.g. age) and the type of teams they work in.
The key points from this year’s MHO report are set out below.
- There were 765 active MHO posts in 2024, which is 36 more than the 729 in 2023. This is the highest number since records began in 2005.
- The number of individuals (headcount) working as an MHO rose from 697 in 2023 to 729 in 2024.
- The overall hours estimated to be spent on MHO duties each week in 2024 was 13,880 the highest since 2016 when we started reporting this figure, the previous highest was in 2023 when it was 13,149.
- Since December 2020 there has been a rise of 19.5 percent of the hours worked by MHOs.
- Between 2023 and 2024 there was a rise of 731 hours (5.6%) in the overall hours estimated to be spent on MHO duties each week.
- Active exclusive MHO posts rose by 27 (9%), cover posts by 6 (10.3%), and non-exclusive posts by 3 (0.8%).
- Reported shortfall decreased by 497 hours per week (17.1%) from 2,914 to 2,417 hours per week.
- Between December 2023 and December 2024, 76 staff left 78 MHO posts.
As a National Statistics product, this publication complies with The Pre-Release Access to Official Statistics (Scotland) Order 2008. The list of people who were given pre-release access can be found here.
Tables from The Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2023
| Description | File Type | File size (KB) | |
| All 2024 Tables | xlsx | 84 | Download |
Time Series
The Mental Health Officer time series data section of the data website can be found here. This will be updated in September 2025 with the 2024 MHO data. This means the latest data can be viewed as part of the full time series data, some of which goes back to 2005.
If you have any enquiries about this report or any of the associated tables, please contact:
Zara Gall
Tel: 01382 723657
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
August 2024
Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2023
27
Aug
2024
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) today published the Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2023.
The Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2023 presents information on:
The number of practising MHOs in post at 5 December 2023, excluding long-term absentees.
MHO trainees, leavers, vacancies and staffing shortfalls.
Key characteristics of the MHO workforce (e.g. age) and the type of teams they work in.
The key points from this year’s MHO report are set out below.
August 2023
Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2022
15
Aug
2023
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) today published the Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2022.
The Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2022 presents information on:
- The number of practising MHOs in post at 5 December 2022, excluding long-term absentees.
- MHO trainees, leavers, vacancies and staffing shortfalls.
- Key characteristics of the MHO workforce (e.g. age) and the type of teams they work in.
August 2022
Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2021
23
Aug
2022
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) today published the Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2021.
The Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2021 presents information on:
- The number of practising MHOs in post at 6 December 2021, excluding long-term absentees.
- MHO trainees, leavers, vacancies and staffing shortfalls.
- Key characteristics of the MHO workforce (e.g. age) and the type of teams they work in.
August 2021
Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2020
17
Aug
2021
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) today published the Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2020.
August 2020
Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2019
13
Aug
2020
The Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) today published the Mental Health Officers (Scotland) Report 2019.
