Scottish Welfare Fund - statutory guidance amendments April 2026: child rights and wellbeing impact assessment

Conclusion

7. As a result of the evidence gathered and analysed against all UNCRC requirements, what is the potential overall impact of this proposal on children’s rights?

The impact on Children’s rights is Positive. The changes in the guidance are focused on ensuring the guidance is more accessible, clearer and that decision makers consider the needs of children/young people.

8. If you have identified a positive impact on children’s rights, please describe below how the proposal will protect, respect, and fulfil children’s rights in Scotland.

The findings outlined in section 3 show that many of Scotland’s children are growing up in poverty, in households where material deprivation is present and income is not great enough to provide high food security. It further highlights the need for and importance of Crisis and Community Care Grants and for the statutory guidance to be clear, easy to understand and accessible for applicants and decision makers – potentially resulting in fairer awards.

The evidence, particularly in the child poverty summary and the SWF annual statistics, points clearly to the fact that a large proportion of people who apply to the SWF live in households with children and that a large amount of these are Crisis Grant awards and applications.

The changes that are being made to the Statutory Guidance are to ensure that it is clearer, easier to understand and more accessible for everyone; including local authority decision makers and members of the public.

Additional text has been added to the statutory guidance that ensures a child’s best interests are taken into consideration and that the circumstances of the immediate family are considered as opposed to just those of the applicant.

Further wording to highlight that having a family reunion visa status should be considered a factor that may increase an applicant’s vulnerability may also positively impact children.

It is well-evidenced that care leavers experience poorer outcomes than their non-care experienced peers and research shows that the transition to adulthood may be especially difficult for care leavers who may not have the same informal support networks as their non-care leaver peers. As such, following consultation with stakeholders, the new Care Leaver Payment will be listed in the guidance as a payment that should be disregarded when calculating income.

Wording to clarify the exclusions listed under annex A has been added. Local authorities had queried whether certain medical items that were not funded by the NHS could be provided. As such, we have highlighted that where it is clear there is no public funding available for a medical item, a local authority can use their wide discretion to make an award.

Therefore, with reference to the UNCRC requirements, the below are expected to be positively impacted by updating the SWF statutory guidance:

• Article 4 (Implementation of the convention)
• Article 3 (Best interests of the child)
• Article 6 (Life, survival and development)
• Article 10 (Family Reunification)
• Article 18 (Parental responsibilities and state assistance)
• Article 22 (Refugee Children)
• Article 23 (Children with a disability)
• Article 24 (Health and health services)
• Article 26 (Social Security)
• Article 27 (Adequate standard of living)

Clearer, more accessible guidance for decision makers and applicants could have a positive direct and indirect impact on children. This is because children and young people aged 16 and over who apply directly, and parents of younger children and those who care for them may be more likely to apply for funding they may be entitled to if the guidance is clearer. Local authority decision makers may be able to make more informed decisions as a result of the improved guidance which could potentially benefit families with children.

As such, it is deemed that the changes to the statutory guidance may result in an overall positive impact on children’s rights.

9. If a negative impact has been identified please describe it below.

Is there a risk this could potentially amount to an incompatibility?: No negative impacts on the rights of children have been identified.

Mitigation Record: Not Applicable

Issue or risk identified and relevant UNCRC requirement: Not Applicable

Action Taken/ To Be Taken: Not Applicable

Date action to be taken or was taken: Not Applicable

10. Will the proposal contribute to the wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland?

• As a result of the evidence gathered and analysed against all wellbeing indicators, will the proposal contribute to the wellbeing of children and young people in Scotland? (Guidance Section 2.3.2, pages 20-22).

Safe: Yes

Healthy: Yes

Achieving: Not Applicable

Nurtured: Not Applicable

Active: Yes

Respected: Not Applicable

Responsible: Not Applicable

Included: Not Applicable

If yes, please provide an explanation below:

Clearer, more accessible guidance for decision makers and applicants could have a positive impact on children regarding the above wellbeing indicators of Safe, healthy and active. This is because parents and those who care for them may be more likely to apply for funding they may be entitled to if the guidance is clearer as well as applicants directly in the 16-18 age group. Local authority decision makers may be able to make more informed decisions as a result of the improved guidance which could also potentially benefit households with children.

As such, relevant applicants and children in the households of those who may apply for the fund, may be afforded more fortunate circumstances and better health outcomes as a result.

11. How will you communicate to children and young people the impact that the proposal will have on their rights?

The CRWIA will be published on the Scottish Government website so those wishing to access it can do so. This CRWIA has been written in, so far as possible, accessible language so those reading it can understand its content and how the updates to this guidance has the potential to impact upon their rights.