Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill: equality impact assessment

Background

In 2020, the Scottish Government promised that all children in Scotland will grow up feeling loved, safe and respected. The Government promised to achieve this by implementing the conclusions of the Independent Care Review by 2030.

Since 2020, significant work has been undertaken at both a national and local level across Scotland to keep the Promise^[1]. This has focused on ensuring that the right support is available to families at the right time, whether through the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund; the introduction of the Scottish recommended allowance for kinship and foster carers which benefits more than 9,000 families; or the ending of the placement of children in young offenders institutions in Scotland.

There is clear evidence that progress has been made, and the Scottish Government will continue to track and review the progress towards keeping the Promise through the Promise Progress Framework^[2] and the Promise Stories of Change, developed jointly between the Scottish Government, COSLA and the Promise Scotland. However, there is still a way to go to ensure that the Promise is kept by 2030 and as recognised by the Promise and across our work, some of the necessary changes require legislation. This Bill takes forward a series of measures necessary to keep the Promise.

This Bill has been informed by the key findings of the Independent Care Review and the Scottish Government’s December 2023 response^[3] to the independent May 2023 ‘Hearings for Children’ report, combined with the wide range of engagement and consultation work that has been underway throughout 2024 and 2025. This consultation once again highlighted that every child’s journey through the care system will be unique and the support they need will vary depending on these circumstances. Throughout this work, the focus has remained on the voices of those with care experience. As set out by the then First Minister at the start of the Promise journey:

“the priority when a child needs our care must be the provision, not of a series of placements or arrangements driven by the needs of bureaucracy, but of stable, safe, secure, loving homes that allow them to experience the joys and normal challenges of growing up, and to fulfil their potential in life.”

In order to allow for these relationships to form, the Bill looks to make legislative changes in eight key areas. Each of these changes falls at different stages of a child’s potential interaction with the care system, from the Children’s Hearings Redesign, to expanding the support available to those who are transitioning out of children’s services and into adulthood. The changes included in this Bill are only part of the wider work being done across Scotland to keep the Promise and only reflect the legislative changes that need to be made.

The key areas which are included in the Bill are:

• Extension of eligibility to receive Aftercare support: 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.
• Introduction of a right to advocacy for children, young people and adults with care experience: 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, the details for which will be set out in regulations under the Bill.
• Guidance in relation to ‘care experience’: 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.
• Legislative steps to tackle profit from 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.
• Strengthening the not-for-profit principle in relation to 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.
• A national register for 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).

This Bill is only one aspect of the work that is being done to keep The Promise by 2030 but it is a vital one. The legislative changes made by this Bill will enable the Scottish Government to keep driving change forwards.

It has been assessed that not all Bill provisions will have an impact on protected characteristics. While all areas of the Bill have been assessed and considered in relation to the Equality Act 2010, focus has been directed to areas where there will be a definitive impact from the provisions in the Bill. Provisions where guidance will be developed at a later date will be assessed individually to ensure it is informed by the assessment process and most up to date data available. The key areas for assessment that will have direct impact on people are:

• Extension of eligibility to receive Aftercare support
• Introduction of a right to advocacy for children, young people and adults with care experience
• Redesign of the Children’s Hearings System

The key groups of people that the provisions in this Bill will impact are children, young people and their families. Additionally those who have experience of care will be impacted by changes to Aftercare and Advocacy provision.