Bill to keep ‘the Promise’ passed 

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 16^th 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.