The Scottish Government, Children's Hearings Scotland and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration have led improvement work to the Children's Hearings System since the publication of the Independent Care Review. The Children's Hearings Improvement Partnership meets regularly to discuss and monitor change and progress.
Our Hearings Our Voice has led significant work to challenge and improve the Children's Hearings System, including around language. It recently published practice guides.
The Hearings System Working Group undertook an extensive programme of activity, including a Collaborative Redesign Project, which considered and discussed how to ensure the Children’s Hearings System is redesigned in line with the conclusions of the Independent Care Review. The resulting recommendations, set out in ‘Hearings for Children’ (published in May 2023) were based on extensive evidence from children, families and members of the unpaid and paid workforce with experience of the Children’s Hearings System. The Scottish Government were observers on the Group and subsequently undertook a significant period of work to review the recommendations and respond to them. Since then work has taken place to set up a Redesign Board (co-Chaired by the Scottish Government and COSLA) and develop policy, practice and legislative change.
Scottish Children's Reporter Administration and Children's Hearings Scotland have undertaken a significant period of change, making both small and larger changes based on what they heard from the Independent Care Review and during the Hearings System Working Group. These include piloting child- friendly scheduling, improving the physical environment of Hearings Centres, removing the requirement for very young children to attend their hearing, amplifying the voice of people with lived experience within internal decision making and a more relational hearing by the chair greeting the child. In addition, Children's Hearings Scotland worked with Language Leaders to create ‘Language in the Hearing Room’, a guide to help Panel Members ensure their practice aligns with the Language Leaders’ four key principles: personalised, balanced, involved, non-stigmatising.
Scottish Children's Reporter Administration is now rolling out Family Centred Scheduling across the country which provides options, choices, supports rights and participation to children and families.
Scottish Children's Reporter Administration has published two evaluation reports on its Keeping The Promise Commitment Standards pilot, following an assessment by its research team of initiatives aimed at improving participation and support for Relevant Persons in Children's Hearings. As part of the pilot, Relevant Persons received redesigned, easy-read notification letters and follow-up contact from SCRA staff outlining available support, including travel expenses, virtual hearing access and advocacy.
Scottish Children's Reporter Administration is committed to delivering on keeping the Promise through corporate parenting by a focus on strategic planning, tangible delivery, collaborative working and inclusive practice. Scottish Children's Reporter Administration's Corporate Parenting Plan, Programme Delivery Plan and Target Operating Model are all aligned. Scottish Children's Reporter Administration has also appointed a Corporate Parenting Manager to lead the next phase of trauma training. This will focus on the needs of specialist roles and embedding trauma-informed practice into policy and strategic direction. Ongoing training is provided through the organisational learning plan on neurodiversity, inclusion, and broader issues affecting children and families in the Hearings system. This includes sessions on Autism, ADHD, and more, delivered in partnership with Salvesen Mindroom. Around 40 neurodiversity champions across Scottish Children's Reporter Administration offer deeper expertise, develop training materials, and provide resources on topics such as FASD, Dyslexia, and Autism.
As part of ongoing work to build a trauma responsive Children's Hearings Scotland, early in 2025, the next phase of the NHS National Trauma Transformation Programme was launched, with NHS Education Scotland. All active Panel Members and the National Team have now completed phase one training. Local Wellbeing Coordinators are also having one-to-one conversations with volunteers to support them further in taking a trauma-informed approach.
The Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Act 2024 places a duty on the National Convener to consider the effects of trauma when planning a hearing. Practice guidance will be developed to ensure this is implemented, recorded and quality assured. In addition, in 2024-25, Children's Hearings Scotland developed and launched Experts by Experience. This is a structured and supported National Participation Group, for children and young people, between the ages of 14 and 25, with lived experience of the hearings system. The group met for the first time in March 2025 and their voices are now fully embedded into the work of Children's Hearings Scotland.
The principles underpinning the Hearings System
Expected passage of the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill (subject to parliamentary approval), which contains key provisions to uphold the Kilbrandon principles and ensure those are understood.
Hearings Redesign Board’s Culture Workstream will finalise and launch a national culture change plan, embedding standards and expectations across agencies.
Consideration and testing of underlying structures so the Hearings System is best placed to truly listen & children and young people as the focus
Progression and passage of the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill (subject to parliamentary approval).
Publication of Hearings Redesign Board’s vision and principles statement (subject to endorsement by Ministers, other Board members and COSLA) which will reaffirm the principles of the Children’s Hearings System and those which underpin the redesign work. This will be shared with children, families, volunteers and members of the paid and unpaid workforce.
Planning and Implementation Group will develop a framework for evaluation across all workstreams.
Planning and Preparing for Hearings Workstream will complete mapping of what preparation looks like for each participant (child, family, panel member, professional).
Data and Information Workstream will develop work on digital information exchange.
Referrals Workstream will pilot Children’s Hearing Champion model in police hubs (Kilmarnock, Dumbarton, Hamilton).
Future workstreams scoped: Language & Communication, Babies & Infants, Processes During Hearing, After the Hearing.
Anticipated amendments (subject to parliamentary approval) to ensure the remunerated, enhanced Chairing Member of each child’s Hearing is consistent where practicable and appropriate.
Hearings Redesign Board’s work programme will be finalised, including oversight of non statutory changes happening as a result of the accepted recommendations in ‘Hearings for Children’ and the conclusions of the Independent Care Review.
The Redesign Board will continue to build on the evidence heard by the Hearings System Working Group and the evidence that has been generated subsequently to test structures, roles and functions to make positive change for children and families in the Children’s Hearings System.
The Redesign Board will identify non-statutory practice changes that are working well and ensure they are scaled up nationally where appropriate.
By July 2026, Scottish Children's Reporter Administration's rollout of Family Centred Scheduling is due to be completed. This is already demonstrating empowerment for children and families, improved participation, consistency and workforce satisfaction. Learning from the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration's Relevant Persons pilot has now been incorporated into Family Friendly Scheduling as part of the national rollout, with further testing of text message reminders underway. A new pilot planned for 2026 to allow advance payment of travel expenses to reduce financial barriers to attending Hearings.
Extension of enforcement and compulsion
The Redesign Board will consider the recommendations in ‘Hearings for Children’ set out in Chapter 13 of the report and will develop actions as part of the ‘after the Hearing’ workstream.
The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill is expected to pass (subject to parliamentary approval), which will enable the Reporter to initiate a Review Hearing if aware of issues with implementation. It will also change the current statutory
Reporter referral test to minimise referrals for compulsion and promote positive voluntary support to families – from children ‘may’ need supervision to ‘likely to’ need supervision.
The role of volunteers
Passage of the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill (subject to parliamentary approval) with provision for remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members, following consultation, data modelling, comparative work, benchmarking and analysis.
Modelling for remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members is reflected in Financial Memorandum.
Children's Hearings Scotland will continue to develop safeguards to ensure equity of decision making amongst children's Panel Members and power dynamics within Children’s Hearings.
Children's Hearings Scotland will shape the blueprint for a robust, inclusive and dynamic recruitment and training programme for a new cohort of remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members. This will be aligned to the principles set out by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland.
The ongoing implementation of the Children's Hearings Scotland Quality Strategy will review, assure and identify areas for improvement in decision making, consistency, practice and effectiveness against a set of agreed priorities.
The future of the Children's Hearings System
The Scottish Government will work with COSLA, Children's Hearings Scotland, the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration and Social Work Scotland to consider the data and trends relating to the number of children being referred to the Children's Hearings System, including developing a clear understanding of what lies behind the statistics and what is working to better support children and families.
The Scottish Government will work with partners to ensure the focus areas identified in Chapter One of ‘Hearings for Children’ are fully implemented. These are:
- Availability of and access to early and ongoing help and support for children and families.
- Availability of and access to early and ongoing help and support for children and families.
- Family Group Decision Making.
- Restorative Justice.
- The recruitment and retention of the workforce.
- Children and families working alongside the local authority without compulsory measures.
- The impact of poverty.
The principles underpinning the Hearings System
Possible commencement of provisions of the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill (subject to parliamentary approval), including remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members, which will result in changes to the way volunteers and others interact with the Children’s Hearings System and will embed a greater understanding of the inquisitorial approach that has been put forward by Sheriff Mackie as part of the Hearings redesign work.
Children's Hearings Scotland, Scottish Children's Reporter Administration and the Scottish Government will work collaboratively to initiate a programme of activity that may establish clear Rules of Procedure (if required and subject to parliamentary approval), timescales and practice protocols for the interaction between the Panel and the Reporter so they can jointly collaborate in the planning of a child's Hearing.
Children's Hearings Scotland and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration will implement the changes in the legislation and policy landscape. Some changes may be rolled out across the country incrementally. The 'decision making' route map will be updated to reflect this when the timetable for commencement and implementation is clear.
Consideration and testing of underlying structures so the Hearings System is best placed to truly listen & children and young people as the focus
Drafting of secondary legislation and guidance relating to the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill if/ when it becomes an Act (subject to parliamentary approval).
The Scottish Government, Children's Hearings Scotland and the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration will work collaboratively with partners to ensure that the provisions in the Bill/ Act are implemented or ready for implementation, ensuring that all new duties and provisions are clearly understood by children, families and the workforce.
Hearings Redesign Board’s Planning and Preparing for Hearings Workstream develops revised training, guidance, and resources based on preparatory mapping.
Hearings Redesign Board’s Data and Information Workstream will support an evaluation framework.
Hearings Redesign Board’s Referrals Workstream evaluates police hub pilot (Enhanced Partnership Model with Scottish Children's Reporter Administration) and recommends scaling or modification.
Work aligned with the broader workstream on ‘decluttering the landscape’ begins to determine what language changes are needed in policy, practice and legislation relating to the 'care system'. This will consider what non-legislative changes are being proposed or discussed by the Hearings Redesign Board’s Language Workstream.
The Redesign Board will review the collective impact of all the non-statutory practice changes and identify what is working well and what is not.
Testing and expansion of existing practice relating to children and families’ enhanced participation in Hearings.
Babies and Infants Workstream integrates findings on age-specific needs into policy and guidance.
After the Hearing Workstream develops recommendations for improving post-hearing processes and follow-up support.
Extension of enforcement and compulsion
Milestones yet to be determined for this year
The role of volunteers
The National Convener will lead a National Awareness Campaign to inform and engage key stakeholders across Scotland on the new duties, provisions and important changes included within the legislation on how they will affect decision-making in Children’s Hearings.
Children's Hearings Scotland will begin the recruitment process for remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members to carry out the specific legal duties set out in the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 and the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill, if/ when passed (subject to parliamentary approval). The approach to recruit the new cohort of Panel Members, as determined by the National Convener, will ensure alignment with the principles, and approaches offered to other Tribunals by the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland to ensure the process is robust and complies with best practice in public appointments. Children's Hearings Scotland will involve young people with lived experience in the co-design of the role description and skills required, recruitment materials and recruitment processes for the new cohort of remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members.
The National Convener will develop a comprehensive training programme for remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members, which will be co-designed with people with lived, and specialist experience.
The future of the Children's Hearings System
The Hearings Redesign Board and the Scottish Government will discuss the data on referrals and the progress on the issues in ‘Chapter One’ of ‘Hearings for Children’, including making recommendations on where progress needs to be accelerated.
Planning will begin to ensure that recruitment of the unpaid and paid workforce reflects the changes in demography and referrals to the Children’s Hearings System.
The principles underpinning the Hearings System
Milestones yet to be determined for this year.
Consideration and testing of underlying structures so the Hearings System is best placed to truly listen & children and young people as the focus
Likely commencement of parts of the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill if/when it becomes an Act (subject to parliamentary approval).
All remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members in the Children’s Hearings System will be trained in:
Practice and policy developments – for example in relation to UN Convention on Rights of a Child (UNCRC), Age of Criminal Responsibility, Children (Care and Justice) Act, GIRFEC and Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill.
- Listening to the voice of the child.
- Early and effective help, restorative justice.
- Enhanced trauma informed practice training.
- Secure care and deprivation of liberty.
- Child and adolescent brain development and mental health services.
- Contextual and statutory safeguarding and child protection.
- Child trafficking and the criminal exploitation of children.
- Domestic violence and coercive control.
- Maintaining Important Relationships- Promoting Sibling Contact and Family Time.
- Neurodevelopmental conditions such as Autism.
All remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members in the Children’s Hearings System will receive Continuous Professional Development and training, and support commensurate with their role as an independent decision maker. There will also be consideration of training relating to permanence processes and language and framing (such as that delivered by Each and Every Child).
Expected implementation of changes to the way grounds are framed and established.
Planning & Preparing implements new pre-Hearing preparation tools across all local areas.
Extension of enforcement and compulsion
Likely commencement of changes in the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill (if passed, subject to parliamentary approval) relating to the Reporter being able to initiate a Review Hearing.
The role of volunteers
Expected commencement of provisions in the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill if passed (subject to parliamentary approval) relating to remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members and specialist Panel Members.
The National Convener will implement the provisions of the Bill/Act through the effective introduction and transition of remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members into Children’s Hearings across Scotland.
The National Convener will appoint specialist Panel Members as required and appropriate, to sit on Hearings to augment the existing knowledge, insight and experience to aid and support decision-making.
The future of the Children's Hearings System
The Redesign Board will ensure that work planning takes into account the changes to the Children's Hearings System that occur over time as a result of the promise being kept.
The principles underpinning the Hearings System
Milestones yet to be determined for this year.
Consideration and testing of underlying structures so the Hearings System is best placed to truly listen & children and young people as the focus
Evidence review published summarising impact of early redesign workstreams on rights, participation, and outcomes, aligned with the evaluation framework.
Extension of enforcement and compulsion
Initial review on impact of changes to enable a Reporter to initiate a Review Hearing (depending on frequency of usage).
The role of volunteers
Commence the planning and future date of a review of remunerated, enhanced Chairing Members and Volunteer Model, with consideration of the impact of specialist Panel Members, as part of a wider post-legislative review activity.
The future of the Children's Hearings System
Milestones yet to be determined for this year.
The principles underpinning the Hearings System
Milestones yet to be determined for this year.
Consideration and testing of underlying structures so the Hearings System is best placed to truly listen & children and young people as the focus
Milestones yet to be determined for this year
Extension of enforcement and compulsion
Milestones yet to be determined for this year.
The role of volunteers.
Redesign Board presents final recommendations for any further changes required to the Children's Hearings System to Ministers and COSLA (e.g., further specialisation or changes to enforcement mechanisms).
The future of the Children's Hearings System
Milestones yet to be determined for this year.
