Care Experienced Children and Young People funding: national operational guidance 2026/2027
Guidance to support local authorities plan how they will most effectively spend their Care Experienced Children and Young People funding.
Impacts and Outcomes
We use a range of measures and sources to consider the impact of the Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund.
Nationally published data, such as the annual Educational Outcomes for Looked after Children is used to consider the impact of this fund. Whilst real progress has been made, there remains a sizeable gap between the educational outcomes of care experienced children and young people and all pupils. Scottish Government officials are working with local government to develop a long-term approach to improving these outcomes.
The impact of the Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund is also considered as part of the Evaluation Strategy for the Attainment Scotland Fund 2022-2026.
Existing local authority Education Standards and Quality reports (or local equivalent reports) are used to report on the progress being made with the support of all Attainment Scotland Funding, including the Care Experienced Children and Young People Funding. Within these reports each local authority presents a clear narrative on the extent to which this funding has influenced and supported local approaches to making progress towards identified stretch aims and achieving the mission of the Scottish Attainment Challenge. Many local authorities have set specific targets for care experienced children and young people in their stretch aims and these are published as part of the aggregated measures.
In addition to the above, each local authority provides an end year report on the use of their funding to the Scottish Government. These reports provide an overview on the use and impact of funding and may include measures of progress in areas such as attainment, attendance, engagement and exclusions.