FOI 26-267 Bullying Complaints within SAS

Freedom of Information Request

Reference
FOI 26-267 Bullying Complaints within SAS
Request Date
12 Jun 2026
Response Date
02 Jul 2026
Information Requested

Please provide the following information relating solely to complaints and grievances raised by Scottish Ambulance Service employees concerning the conduct of other Scottish Ambulance Service employees. This request does not relate to complaints made by members of the public, patients, service users, or external organisations. For each of the last five financial years, please provide:  

  1. The number of formal grievances, Dignity at Work complaints, bullying complaints, harassment complaints, or equivalent internal staff complaints received by the Scottish Ambulance Service. 

 

  1. Of those complaints, the number that were: * Upheld in full; * Partially upheld; * Not upheld; * Withdrawn. 

 

  1. The number of employees who were the subject of upheld or partially upheld findings relating to bullying, harassment, Dignity at Work complaints, or equivalent internal staff complaints. 

 

  1. Where this information can be provided withoutidentifyingindividuals, the staff band or managerial grade of employees who were the subject of upheld or partially upheld findings.  

 

  1. The number of upheld or partially upheld complaints that resulted in: * Informal action; * Formal management action; * Disciplinary action; * Other remedial action. 

 

  1. Does the Scottish Ambulance Service record whether complainants are offered support, welfare measures, occupational health referrals, counselling, mediation, management support, or any other form of assistance following an upheld or partially upheld grievance, Dignity at Work complaint, bullying complaint, or harassment complaint? 

 

  1. If such information is recorded, please provide aggregate data for each of the last fivefinancial yearsshowing: *  

The number of complainants offered support; 

The type of support offered; 

The number of complainants who accepted or received support, where recorded.  

 

  1. Please provide copies of any policies, guidance, procedures, standard operating practices, or other documents that set out:

The handling of internal staff bullying, harassment, and Dignity at Work complaints; 

The support, welfare measures, aftercare, follow-up arrangements, occupational health referrals 

or other assistance available to complainants following an upheld or partially upheld complaint.  

 

  1. Please provide any annual reports, board reports, workforce reports, monitoring reports, or statistical summaries held by the Scottish Ambulance Service relating to internal staff bullying, harassment, Dignity at Work complaints, grievance outcomes, or workplace culture during this period.

 

If any information is withheld, please specify the exemption(s) relied upon and explain why they apply. If any part of this request is likely to exceed the applicable cost limit, I would be grateful if advice and assistance could be provided to help refine the request. 

Response

For the purposes of this response, we have interpreted your request as relating to formal internal staff complaints, including Dignity at Work, bullying and harassment complaints. Where relevant, we provide clarification below regarding how information is recorded. 
 

Q1 - Records of bullying and harassment (B&H) complaints are available for the most recent three financial years only. Earlier data is not held in a reportable format. 
 
2023/24 – 27 
2024/25 – 19 
2025/26 – 16 
 
Prior to the 23/24 period there was no system capturing this information, it would take a manual trawl of all local records and complex skill and judgement to determine if it falls within scope of this request.  It is for this reason under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held. 
 
Grievances relating to bullying and harassment are generally progressed under the Bullying and Harassment Policy rather than recorded separately as grievances. 

 

Q2 – The records are not held with an outcome category recorded against them, the cases are either open or closed with notes held within them that details the outcome.  It would take a manual review of all documents within each case to determine the outcomes in the categories you have requested and in doing so it would involve the creation of new information which is not required under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, it is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Act as information not held. 

 

Q3 – As noted in response to Question 2, the outcome of complaints is not routinely recorded in a manner that identifies whether an individual case was upheld, partially upheld, not upheld or withdrawn. In many cases, records simply indicate that a case has been closed. 

To determine the number of employees who were the subject of upheld or partially upheld findings would require the review of individual case records, the interpretation of case comments and documentation, and the creation of a new dataset identifying both complaint outcomes and the employees concerned. FOISA provides a right of access to recorded information held by a public authority and does not require authorities to create new information in order to answer a request. 

It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held. 

 

Q4 - As explained in response to Question 3, the Service does not hold a record of employees who were the subject of upheld or partially upheld bullying, harassment, Dignity at Work or equivalent internal staff complaints. Determining this information would require the review and interpretation of individual case records and the creation of new information. 

In addition, staff band and managerial grade information is not recorded within the complaints tracking system used for these cases. Consequently, even if individuals who were the subject of upheld or partially upheld findings could be identified, a further exercise would be required to obtain and correlate workforce information from other sources. 

FOISA provides a right of access to recorded information held by a public authority and does not require authorities to create new information in order to answer a request. Accordingly, it is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held. 

 

Q5 - As explained in response to Question 2, the Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold recorded information identifying whether complaints were upheld, partially upheld, not upheld or withdrawn. Accordingly, we are unable to provide the number of upheld or partially upheld complaints resulting in each category of action requested. 

While the complaints tracker records certain actions taken following the consideration of complaints, it does not record these actions against the categories of outcome specified in your request. 

From the information held, we can confirm that actions recorded following complaints have included: 

 

  • Referral to a disciplinary hearing; 
  • Formal disciplinary sanctions; 
  • Dismissal; 
  • Resignation prior to the conclusion of disciplinary proceedings; and 
  • Cases where no disciplinary sanction was applied. 

 

Information relating to individual sanctions has been withheld because the number of cases involved is very small and disclosure could lead to the identification of individual employees. This information is therefore exempt under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information). 

 

Q6 - The Scottish Ambulance Service does not maintain a specific record of whether complainants are offered support following an upheld or partially upheld grievance, Dignity at Work complaint, bullying complaint or harassment complaint.  It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held. 

 

It should be noted that the support services referred to in your request are available to all employees and are not restricted to individuals who have raised a complaint or grievance. Any member of staff may access or request support, including occupational health services, counselling, wellbeing support, mediation and management support, where appropriate. 

 

Q7 - Support services such as occupational health referrals, counselling, wellbeing support, mediation and management support are available to all employees and are not provided solely in connection with complaints or grievances. As these services are not routinely recorded against individual complaint cases, the Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold aggregate information showing: 

 

  • The number of complainants offered support; 
  • The type of support offered to complainants; or 
  • The number of complainants who accepted or received support. 

 

It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held. 

 

Q8 - Some of the information you have requested is publicly available and is therefore exempt from disclosure under section 25(1) of FOISA (Information Otherwise Accessible). 

The Scottish Ambulance Service manages bullying and harassment concerns in accordance with NHS Scotland's Once for Scotland policies and supporting guidance, which can be accessed at: 

 

 

In addition, the Scottish Ambulance Service provides a range of wellbeing and support resources for employees, including information on wellbeing support services and Sexual Safety Contacts. These resources are available to staff through internal employee information channels. 

 

Q9 – There are board papers publicly available on the Scottish Ambulance Service website that details reports held in relation to Employee Relation cases including Bully and Harassment cases. - Microsoft Word - 2026-01-28 Item 11 Staff Experience and Performance Report V2; in particular pages 7, 8 and 9.  These papers are available from 2018 – 2026. 

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