Scottish Government high level action plan in response to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

13: Protection of the family and children

Thematic tags

Social Care; Carers; Childcare; Disability; Older People; Gender

Concluding Observation 43c

The Committee recommends that the State Party, along with the devolved governments […] Adopt legislative measures to establish a comprehensive, inclusive care and support system that promotes shared caregiving responsibilities for children, persons with disabilities and older persons and integrates a gender-sensitive, intersectional, intercultural and human rights-based approach.

Context

Social care has the power to transform people’s lives. This is why we are reforming social care to ensure that those accessing services receive th e highest quality care, delivered consistently across Scotland. Thousands of people with experience of accessing, delivering and receiving social care, social work and community health services have helped co-design the Care Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent (22 July 2025). This will transform social care across Scotland. The act also enshrines Anne’s Law to ensure people living in adult care homes can stay connected with their loved ones, including by having a named friend or family member to support their wellbeing. The act will also improve access to independent advocacy, and create a national Chief Social Work Adviser role to provide professional leadership and champion to the sector.

We launched the Carer’s Allowance Supplement in November 2024 which is an extra payment for people in Scotland who get Carer Support Payment or Carer’s Allowance. The supplement has been paid to over 164,000 carers.

Key Actions

We will publish a National Care Service charter to support people to claim their care specific rights in 2026. The charter is being co-designed with people with experience of accessing and providing community health, social work and social care support, and unpaid carers to ensure that it meets their needs. Over 500 people were involved in the first two phases of the design of the charter, and the final phase is underway. The charter will be published alongside an Easy Read, community language, audio, and BSL versions.

We will establish a non-statutory advisory board that will play a critical part in the National Care Service’s efforts to drive improvement and make sure services are consistent, fair and high quality across Scotland. We have established an Interim Advisory Board which will run for nine months while the advisory board is being designed and established.

The 2025-26 budget provides £2.2 billion for social care and integration. This means that funding for social care has increased by over £1.2 billion compared to 2021-22 and exceeds the Programme for Government commitment to increase social care spending by 25% over this Parliament.

We are taking forward a review of the Health and Social Care Standards (HSCS) in collaboration with stakeholders, including regulators and people who use health and social care. This review is ongoing, and we will use the learning to ensure that the standards remain fit for purpose, are outcomes focussed and are firmly embedded in human rights. The HSCS are rights based and seek to provide better outcomes for everyone who uses health, social care or social work services.

For further actions see:

Childcare Concluding Observation: 43a

Concluding Observation 43d

The Committee recommends that the State Party, along with the devolved governments […] Strengthen measures aimed at tackling the sexual exploitation of and violence against children, including by implementing the recommendations of […] the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry and other relevant inquiries and investigations conducted by independent bodies, as also recommended by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Thematic tags

Children’s rights; Child abuse; Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry

Context

Scotland’s redress scheme seeks to acknowledge and provide tangible recognition of harm caused by historical child abuse in various care settings. It aims to empower survivors by incorporating their insights, adopting a trauma-informed approach, and offering an alternative to a possibly adversarial legal process. The scheme provides elements of accountability, justice, and financial and non-financial redress. Redress payments ranging from £10,000 to £100,000 have been made to over 3,000 applicants, totalling more than £161 million to September 2025.

The ongoing Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, established by statute in 2015, is independent of government and examines abuse in care settings between 1930 and 2014. The inquiry’s goal is to identify systemic failures and make recommendations for improvement. As of August 2025, over 1,300 witnesses have given evidence in 550 public hearing days. We will address recommendations once the inquiry concludes to ensure better future protection for children in care.

While regulation of the internet is reserved to the UK Government, we have successfully engaged with them on the Online Safety Act 2023 to strengthen protections for young people. We continue to engage with them on the UK Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, including work to extend a number of new offences to Scotland in relation to online child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Key Actions

The 2025-26 Programme for Government commits to taking forward the ministerial online safety taskforce to strengthen our approach to keeping children safe online, providing oversight and direction across the Scottish Government and identifying what more can be done to protect children and young people. The taskforce will have joint ministerial leadership from the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise, and the Minister for Victims and Community Safety.

In 2024 we formed a national child sexual abuse and exploitation strategic group with Police Scotland and other expert stakeholders to review and strengthen measures protecting children from abuse, including online harm. The group is developing a workplan to more effectively prevent, disrupt and provide support to victims of child sexual abuse and their families, with initial work looking at improvements to workforce education and training and multiagency data collections. The group are assessing the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the findings of the Casey Audit (Baroness Casey’s audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse published in June 2025) and wider strategic work as they develop their workplan.