Residential Childcare Reference Group minutes: June 2026

Attendees and apologies

• Richard Wilkins, Scottish Government (Chair)
• John Ryan, St Mary’s Kenmure, also on behalf of Social Work Scotland (SWS) Residential Care Subgroup as Co-Chair
• Pauline Cochrane, National Social Work Agency (NSWA)
• Erica Barr, Glasgow City Council
• Claire Dixon, Angus Council
• Joanne McMeeking, Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection (CELCIS)
• Sarah Deeley, CELCIS
• Dawn Ward, Aberlour
• Karen Ferguson, East Park, on behalf of Educating through Care Scotland
• Residential Childcare Unit officials, Scottish Government

Apologies

• Chloe Riddell, The Promise Scotland
• Charlotte Wilson, Care Inspectorate
• Caroline McDonald, Social Work Scotland
• Kay McKerrell, Who Cares? Scotland
• Rebecca French, Coalition of Care Providers Scotland (CCPS)

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed the group to the meeting and led introductions round the virtual room. 

Purpose of the group 

The Chair outlined the purpose of the group, highlighting that the group would provide advice and guidance to the Scottish Government on key issues affecting Residential Childcare, including workforce requirements, commissioning, forecasting need, and the Promise commitment to reduce profit.

The Reference Group would also oversee the work of relevant working groups which would be established to explore key themes in more depth (for example, definitions of profit, workforce pathways, and the pre-existing working group on the 'Children’s Charter of Rights').

To ensure the group remained focused, attendees had been kept to a minimum, however where topics were of particular interest additional attendees from member organisations were welcome. 

Terms of reference 

Scottish Government provided an overview of the 'Terms of Reference' document which was shared with attendees ahead of the meeting for their consideration.

The group agreed on the 'Purpose' and 'Membership' sections of the 'Terms of Reference', highlighting the points below: 

• Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) were suggested as a member of any relevant working groups
• given the changing health needs of children, primarily in relation to neurodivergence and mental health, the group could benefit from a member who could advise on these topics
• members with commissioning and financial expertise were suggested for membership, however the group agreed that their expertise would be best utilised on the relevant subgroups
• as St Mary's were already represented upon the group, it should be considered whether they could feedback to other Secure Care providers

The group agreed on the 'Governance', 'Meetings' and 'Contact' sections of the 'Terms of Reference', highlighting the below points: 

• it was agreed that minutes would be cleared by correspondence with a deadline for response
• any conflicts of interest should be sent to the secretariat at the Residential Childcare Mailbox to be logged       

Priority planning

Discussion

The group discussed the Ministerial priorities related to residential childcare including:  

• reducing profit
• cross-border placements 
• reducing the use of restraint 
• supporting the workforce
  • the group noted current work being undertaken by the SWS Residential Childcare Sub-group, which had identified three main priorities - workforce, regulation and relationships and would look to take these to the SWS Standing Committee for endorsement
  • the group noted the history around the plans to introduce a Level 9 qualification for residential childcare workers, and that it would therefore be important to gain workforce buy-in to any future qualification changes
  • successful implementation of qualification changes had the potential to foster real cultural and practice changes in the sector
  • the group also noted the large pay and conditions gaps that exist in the residential childcare workforce sector
• developing a charter of rights for residential childcare
  • the group suggested the charter could consider entitlement to continuing care and transition periods for looked after children and young people
• commissioning strategies 
  • the group commented that there were times when the available placements were inappropriate but the appropriate placements were not available
  • the group noted the Chief Social Work Officers’ statement of 12 June 2026 relating to placement shortages for children and young people, and concluded that it would be useful for the group to gather examples of this issue to feedback to the NSWA
  • Scottish Government officials have been liaising with regional care cooperatives in Manchester to learn about the positive work being undertaken in commissioning

 Prioritisation exercises

The group were given the opportunity to share their priorities through a word cloud exercise, the group reported a number of priorities which can be grouped into approximately six categories which are listed below: 

• workforce: with a focus on recruitment and retention, pay and conditions, national profile of residential childcare staff, and qualifications, as well as educational provisions and prioritisation of reflective practice
• profit: focusing on the definition profit and data collection regulations
• care delivery goals: focusing on a consistent model of care alongside innovative models of care, equity of access to continuing care and transitions through care, responding to the complex needs of children and young people, and children’s rights
• data: plugging data gaps, improving data collection and better use of data to inform future decision making
• Care Inspectorate: understanding how inspection data and the grading system is used and how this can future proof service design and improve outcomes for children
• wider impacts: consideration of the impact of the fostering crisis on residential care

The group noted that it is important to measure the implementation of any new initiatives and ensure changes made are of value.

The group undertook a prioritisation exercise and the result of this exercise will be used to inform a future priorities paper which will be brought to the group. 

Any other business

No other business was brought to the group. 

Close 

The Chair thanked everyone for their time and contributions, noting the next meeting would take place toward the end of September. 

Actions

• Dawn Ward/John Ryan to suggest possible health representatives for the group which can be discussed at the next meeting
• John Ryan to ask other secure care providers if they are happy for him to feed back from the Reference Group to them at their monthly catch-up meetings
• Scottish Government to share information on regional care cooperatives work in England with the group and consider the work of regional care cooperatives as a potential future agenda item
• group to share case examples of complexity of care needs to increase understanding of placement shortages. Examples can be sent to the residential childcare mailbox or directly to Pauline Cochrane
• Scottish Government to share the results of the priority exercise with the group