National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy for Young Disabled People

Next Steps

The publication of Scotland’s first National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy for young disabled people marks a critical step forward. However, we are clear that publishing this strategy is not the end of the process, but rather it marks the start of a longer-term commitment to improving the experiences and outcomes of young disabled people who are making the transition to adulthood. We will therefore keep this strategy under review so that we are able to measure progress.

Scottish Government and COSLA will work together with key partners to drive successful delivery of the Strategy. The existing External Strategic Working Group will be invited to oversee the ongoing implementation of the strategy, to monitor progress, and to help ensure that the strategy remains responsive to the needs and ambitions of young disabled people, their parents and carers and those who support them. We will review the Terms of Reference, membership and structure of the existing group to ensure it has sufficient influence and ambition for implementing the strategy, extending the membership to include other relevant stakeholders where required. Local Government representatives will be involved in the ongoing work, through the External Strategic Working Group to deliver the Strategy and elsewhere to address the broad range of challenges.

We will also continue to use the Scottish Government’s Cross-policy Working Group on transitions to help oversee the implementation of this strategy, by tracking, reviewing and reporting on progress against the actions we have committed to within this strategy.

We will also build a programme of sustained engagement with young disabled people, their parents, carers, and those who represent them to ensure that those most affected by the strategy remain at the very heart of it. We will work with Disabled People’s and Carers Organisations and other stakeholders to ensure that this engagement is accessible, inclusive, and meaningful — enabling those with lived experience to share their experiences to help us understand whether the actions we take are making the improvements we want to see.

As well as qualitative engagement, we will also measure progress on outcomes for young people, where possible, through ongoing data collections as set out in the ‘Data collection and measurement’ section.

It is also important that we not only monitor progress but report on it, and we are committed to doing so. This will provide transparency, help drive shared accountability and learning and allow us to reassess the strategy to consider whether further or new actions are required. We plan to publish the first progress report by the end of 2026.

Improving transitions is not the job of any single service or organisation. One of the clearest lessons is this: transitions will only improve when responsibility is genuinely shared, recognised and acted upon at both a national and local level. Local areas will be encouraged and supported to embed ARC Scotland’s Principles of Good Transitions and the priorities of this strategy into their planning and delivery, and we will share both national and local learning to drive collective improvement.

This strategy is a commitment to do better, together so that young disabled people in Scotland feel confident in their transition to adulthood and are empowered and supported to control their own path to success.