A lifelong entitlement to advocacy services for all care
experienced people will ensure their voices are better heard
after MSPs backed landmark legislation to accelerate
delivery of ‘the Promise'.
The Children (Care, Care Experience, and Services Planning)
(Scotland) Bill underpins delivery of the Scottish Government's
response to the independent care review, and commitment to keep
the Promise. The Bill was passed in a final Stage 3 vote in the
Scottish Parliament.
The Bill will extend aftercare support currently available
for 16-to-26 year olds who were in care on their
16th birthday to those who had left care before
that point – including help with accommodation,
education, employment and wellbeing.
It includes provisions to drive reforms to the Children's Hearing
System, including remunerated Panel chairs to help reduce delays
and increase capacity, to ensure the system better meet the needs
of children and families.
Residential childcare providers will have to provide
financial information to Ministers, and a Residential Childcare
Futures Reference Group will be established. This group
will draw together partners from national and local government,
social work, and
organisations representing care-experienced
people to ensure the needs of children and young people are
foremost in residential care. It will consider definitions of
profit and provide future advice to Ministers on further
regulation to limit profit.
Natalie Don-Innes, Minister for Children, Young People &
The Promise said:
“This legislation will deliver a very strong package of
further change that will help improve the lives
of people across Scotland with care experience and
those who care for them. It represents a significant
milestone and will accelerate progress towards keeping the
Promise.
“I am grateful to everyone across the care experienced community
who helped to shape the Bill, and to MSPs across the Parliament
whose engagement has resulted in a legislative package that will
help greatly improve the support available.
“This legislation is an essential part of our wider on-going
programme of work to keep the Promise, and will help to
deliver the change which the 5,500 voices that informed
the Independent Care Review told us must happen.”
Discussions with MSPs from across the chamber led to Scottish
Government amendments to the Bill, which will deliver enhanced
support for kinship carers. These include strengthening the role
of family group decision making, and making it easier for
eligible kinship families to access financial, practical and
advocacy support through a comprehensive needs-based assessment
from their local authority.
Background
The Children (Care, Care Experience,
and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill 2025 includes
measures to enhance care and support for children in the care
system, or who have left it. It forms a key part of the Scottish
Government's work to implement the recommendations of the
Independent Care Review, known as The Promise.
Delivery of the Bill's provisions will be taken forward in the
next Parliament, subject to decisions of the Scottish
Government formed after the 7 May election.
Future funding decisions will be set out in the usual
way through
the Scottish Budget process.
Wider progress towards keeping the Promise includes:
- fewer children in Scotland growing up in care since 2020 – a
reduction of 18.1%
- no young people
under-18 have been or will be
admitted to young
offenders institutions, following the introduction
of the Children's Care and Justice Act in 2024
- incidents of physical restraint and seclusion are declining
in children's residential accommodation
- more people with care experience are going on to positive
destinations nine months after leaving school
The Scottish Government's offer to kinship carers is set out in
the Vision for Kinship
Care.
The Scottish Government has invested more than £148
million through Whole Family Wellbeing Funding to transform
family support, including a multi-year £38 million commitment to
Children's Services Planning Partnerships. The Scottish
Recommended Allowance (SRA) was introduced in August 2023 to
ensure all eligible foster and kinship carers receive a
consistent minimum level of financial support,
benefiting more than 9,000 children. In 2025-26,
funding for the SRA was increased by a further £1.9
million to help carers meet rising costs.
