Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill: consumer duty statement

Planning

Aftercare

The Bill will expand eligibility for Aftercare to a wider group of care experienced children and young people by introducing a right for those who were ‘looked after’ but who left care before their 16th birthday to apply for Aftercare from their 16th birthday up to age 26, subject to an assessment of their needs. By widening eligibility for Aftercare, we will frontload support for those who require it at a time when it is most needed. By upstreaming support, it will improve outcomes for young people with care experience who may require support from social work services and their partners to enable a positive transition into adulthood and to help them thrive.

Advocacy

The Promise states that “care experienced children and adults must have the right and access to independent advocacy, at all stages of their experience of care and beyond.” There is already a complex advocacy landscape in Scotland, but in order to ensure that lifelong independent advocacy is available to those with care experience when they need it, the Bill places a duty on Scottish Ministers to make provision for advocacy support for people with care experience.

Language of Care

The Promise sets out that language is important in normalising care experience. It can address stigmatising assumptions, attitudes and behaviours that can impact on all areas of a child or young person’s life, now and into the future. There are also a range of existing supports and entitlements available specifically to those with care experience, however eligibility for existing supports is not currently connected by a universal definition. To build on existing local good practice, the Bill places a requirement on Scottish Ministers to publish guidance in relation to ‘care experience’. The guidance will raise awareness and understanding of care and care experience and set a national and consistent direction for the language used in and around the care system.

Profit in Residential Care

The Promise is clear that there is no place for profiting in how Scotland cares for its children and that Scotland must avoid the monetisation of the care of children and prevent the marketisation of care by 2030. To align with this and uphold the principles of the Promise, the Bill enables the Scottish Ministers through regulations to enhance financial transparency by requiring certain residential childcare providers to provide financial and other relevant information about the operation of their services. In addition, should it be determined that excessive profits are being made, Scottish Ministers also have enabling powers through this Bill to make further regulations to limit profit being made from children’s residential care. This seeks to ensure that excessive levels of profit are not made from local authorities and from finite public funds, in relation to the provision of accommodation and services for vulnerable looked after children in Scotland.

Not-for-profit principle in Foster Care

To align with The Promise and uphold the principle that no one should profit from the care of children, the Bill will require all Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs) in Scotland to be registered charities. This change will close existing loopholes that may allow public funds to be diverted for private gain, ensure that all surplus is reinvested into services for children and carers, and create a consistent legal and regulatory framework across the sector. The measure strengthens financial transparency, public accountability, and fairness between fostering providers, while supporting long-term stability in the fostering system.

Register of Foster Carers

The Promise advocates: "Scotland should consider a national register for Foster Carers recognising that they care for children within their own home. That must operate in a supportive way that is aligned to the underlying values of how Scotland must care.” The Bill gives the Scottish Ministers the power to make arrangements for the establishment (and maintenance) of a national register for foster carers. The approval of carers are functions of the foster care panel, and prospective foster carers are required to undergo suitability checks prior to being approved as foster carers. These checks include a criminal background check facilitated by Disclosure Scotland. The creation and maintenance of a national register is intended to increase safeguarding; provide the data to enable a better understanding of where more foster carers are needed; and improve the status of foster carers by bringing foster carers in line with other parts of the children’s workforce who are registered and regulated.

Redesign of the Children’s Hearings System

The children’s hearings system offers legal protections to children who are in need or at risk, and who require its support. Limiting compulsory measures of care only to those children for whom that is required, and only for as long as compulsory intervention is needed, remain fundamental principles. The changes outlined below are part of a much wider redesign of the children’s hearings system which aims to protect children and families from further trauma.

Extending the statutory responsibility to Integrated Joint Boards in the development of Children Services Plans

The Bill places the same duties on local authorities and health boards to participate in the development and implementation of children’s services planning under Part 3 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 on integration joint boards (IJBs). This will create a tripartite accountability between the three public bodies in respect of children’s services plans (preparing, reviewing, implementing, reporting and directions from Scottish Ministers).

In advance of Bill provisions being drafted, four consultations were launched. These consultations, where appropriate, have contributed to the content of the Bill. The four consultations were:

• ‘Moving on’ from care into adulthood consultation: This invited views on a wide range of issues impacting young people as they transition from care, including a question on whether there should be a change in the eligibility criteria for Aftercare. A formal 12-week public consultation was undertaken from 11 July 2024 to 3 October 2024, and 69 responses were received from a wide range of stakeholders from public, private and third sector organisations and individuals. Non-confidential consultation responses were published on 6 January 2025 on the Scottish Government Citizens Space website . The Scottish Government commissioned the independent consultancy organisation The Lines Between to undertake a formal analysis of consultation responses, and this report was published on 6 January 2025.
• ‘Developing a Universal Definition of “Care Experience”: The consultation included two sections. The first section asked for views on the need for a universal definition of care experience, the potential scope of a definition and who this could include, and what the potential impacts of a universal definition could be. The second sought views on the wider language of care, and how to build on existing local good practice to set a national direction for language that is used relating to care.
• The Future of Foster Care Consultation: This included specific questions on whether further regulation was required to strengthen the not-for-profit principle and whether IFAs should be required to have charitable status and on whether a national register for foster carers would be desirable. In total, 99 responses were received – 55 from individuals and 44 from organisations, with the majority of organisational responses submitted by local authorities and health and social care partnerships. Other responses came from advocacy organisations, Independent Foster Agencies (IFAs) and representative bodies. A significant number of responses also reflect lived experience of foster care, either directly or through organisational representation. 89 respondents have consented for their responses to be published on the Scottish Government’s Citizen Space platform.
• ‘Children’s Hearings Redesign – legislative proposals’: The consultation comprised a detailed paper seeking views on potential legislative changes to the children’s hearings system. A series of public engagement events also took place online and in person, reaching over 500 people. Engagement sessions with children and young people were held by a number of organisations, and a composite set of young people’s responses was provided directly to Ministers. There were 105 responses to the consultation, many of which presented detailed views on the complex issues being considered. A comprehensive, independent analysis of the responses was undertaken by the Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice at the University of Strathclyde and published in February 2025.

Alongside these consultations, officials have done a variety of additional engagement with stakeholders to establish further evidence bases for the proposed provisions.

Following introduction of the Bill, there will be further engagement with stakeholders and consumers to ensure that any unknown gaps are mitigated.