Current status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 13 November 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many calls the Disclosure Scotland helpline has received in the last 12 months, and what the (a) average and (b) longest recorded waiting time for a call to be answered was.
I have asked Gerard Hart, Chief Executive of Disclosure Scotland to respond. His response is as follows:
The Disclosure Scotland helpline received 129,575 calls over the past 12 months. Customers waited an average of 16 minutes and 18 seconds to speak to an advisor, with the longest recorded wait time being one hour, 49 minutes and 32 seconds. Call volumes to the Disclosure Scotland helpline usually range between 6,400 to 10,400 per month. From April to July 2025, Disclosure Scotland experienced higher than normal call volumes, which reflects the application volume peak during this period and has increased overall average wait time in the 12 month period.
Monthly calls received and wait times are provided in the following table:
Activity period | Total calls received | Average wait time (hours:minutes:seconds) |
November 2024 | 8446 | 00:00:47 |
December 2024 | 6440 | 00:01:32 |
January 2025 | 8092 | 00:00:59 |
February 2025 | 7732 | 00:00:59 |
March 2025 | 10427 | 00:01:54 |
April 2025 | 14221 | 00:06:44 |
May 2025 | 19262 | 00:23:14 |
June 2025 | 17393 | 00:31:20 |
July 2025 | 11334 | 00:27:22 |
August 2025 | 8032 | 00:38:36 |
September 2025 | 7370 | 00:42:17 |
October 2025 | 10826 | 00:19:51 |