This World Children’s Day marks a significant moment. The first ever Children’s Rights Scheme has been laid before the Scottish Parliament, turning Scotland’s long-standing ambition to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into a concrete plan for action.
For years, children, young people and organisations across Scotland have pushed for a legal framework that does not just recognise children’s rights in principle, but makes those rights real in practice. The Children’s Rights Scheme is central to that goal. It sets out how Scottish Ministers will ensure they act compatibly with the UNCRC and how they will take further steps to realise children’s rights across government and public services.
A young person who gave evidence to the Equalities Committee during the Bill’s reconsideration in 2023 expressed it powerfully:
“We need to be making sure that children and young people’s rights are thought about in every area. It’s important for every adult to think about their role and how it impacts children and young people’s rights even if it’s maybe not as directly as other people.” 1
Their words echo so much of what children and young people told us along the way and go right to the heart of why the Scheme matters now. It provides the commitments needed to ensure the systemic change that children and young people have been asking for.
So today is a moment to recognise how far we have come and to focus on what needs to happen next. Embedding children’s rights into everyday decision-making will only be achieved through collective effort across government, public bodies and civil society. The Scheme gives us a practical tool to support that effort.
What is the Children’s Rights Scheme?
The Children’s Rights Scheme is one of the key mechanisms that will help turn the UNCRC Act into practical change. It sets out how Scottish Ministers will make sure their actions and decisions respect children’s rights, and how they will take further steps to strengthen those rights across policy, budgeting and public services.
For Together, the importance of the Scheme is that it places children’s rights at the heart of Scotland’s wider ambitions. It connects directly with national priorities to tackle child poverty, improve public services, build a fairer economy and respond to the climate crisis. The message is clear: realising children’s rights is not an add-on. It is part of how Scotland delivers wellbeing, fairness and progress for everyone.
This is the first Scheme to be laid before Parliament. It has been designed to guide progress over the next few years, with annual reporting to Parliament so that children, families and the wider public can see what has been achieved and what still needs to happen. The Scheme can be updated when significant developments or new learning make that necessary, but its main purpose is to give a clear, stable foundation for embedding a children’s rights approach across public life.
Why does the Children’s Scheme matter?
The Scheme matters because it translates children’s views and priorities into action. Much of what appears in the Scheme reflects what children and young people told us during the campaign for incorporation.
“To enable true access to rights for all young people, we must first dismantle the systemic barriers that withhold those rights. Young people are experts of their own lives, there is a lot to be learnt from sharing access to decision making.”2
This call for meaningful involvement came through strongly. Children pressed for participation that is taken seriously in every space where decisions are made. The Scheme includes commitments to ensure children are involved in decision-making at all levels.
“It is essential for all children and young people to know their rights, however, it is important to note that level of access to rights differs disproportionately amongst groups with protected characteristics ranging from young Black and Poc people, those with disabilities, Roma travelling communities, LGBTQI+, kids in care or that are carers and so on.”3
Children were clear about the need to focus on those whose rights are most at risk. The Scheme sets out how Ministers will identify and address situations where rights are not being fulfilled.
“Having an advocate there makes you ten times louder.” 4
Children also told us they want adults and systems to act when things go wrong. The Scheme includes commitments on accessible complaints processes, advocacy and routes to justice.
“As young people, we are painfully aware of when actions are tokenistic. We need to ensure that we are not just checking a box and young people are able to see actual tangible results that incorporate their ideas.”5
Children pushed for rights to be part of how government works day to day. The Scheme includes arrangements on Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessments, child rights budgeting and inclusive communication.
In this way, children’s views and priorities form the backbone of the Scheme and guide its commitments.
What does the Scheme include?
The Scheme sets out 41 practical commitments (referred to as “arrangements”) that describe how Scottish Government will implement its duties under the Act. These commitments provide a framework that we can all use to monitor progress and drive improvement.
The commitments cover several key areas:
- Participation, advocacy and access to justice: strengthening children’s participation, ensuring advocacy and legal support are available, and making complaints systems accessible and child friendly.
- Rights awareness and inclusive communication: embedding a children’s human rights approach across government, producing child friendly information and ensuring every child can understand and express their rights.
- Child rights budgeting and CRWIAs: assessing the national Budget for its impact on children’s rights and ensuring financial decisions consider children’s wellbeing at every stage.
- Accountability, scrutiny and data: improving how information about children’s experiences is collected and analysed, and reporting openly to Parliament each year.
- Focusing on those children whose rights are most at risk: committing to targeted action where rights are at greatest risk of not being realised.
- Embedding rights in services delivered by others: recognising that many public services affecting children are delivered through partners, and promoting a consistent rights-based approach across sectors.
Scottish Ministers will report each year on how the Scheme is working in practice, giving Parliament and the public a regular picture of progress. While the reporting is annual, the Scheme is designed to guide implementation over the coming years, with updates made when needed to reflect new developments or learning.
What’s next?
With the UNCRC Act and the Children’s Rights Scheme now in place, Scotland has the foundations to embed a children’s human rights approach across the systems that shape decisions and deliver services. But tools alone do not deliver change – real progress will only come from our collective effort to put these commitments into practice.
Our shared task now is to make sure the Scheme becomes a living framework that shapes decisions, budgets and services every day. That includes supporting government to take forward its commitments, holding it to account where progress is too slow, and ensuring children and young people are at the heart of everything that comes next.
On this World Children’s Day, we can celebrate how far we have come while staying focused on the work ahead. The Children’s Rights Scheme signals a new chapter, rooted in partnership, accountability and our collective determination to make children’s rights real in every child’s life, every day.
Find out more here:
- Children’s Scheme (full version)
- Children’s Scheme (child friendly version)
- Young Scot consultation report
Ends
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Consultancy and Training
Together provides training and consultancy to organisations looking to strengthen how they support children’s human rights.
For twenty-five years, Together has been helping organisations and individuals from a range of backgrounds and roles to improve their awareness and understanding of children’s human rights in practice. This has included work on the Skills and Knowledge project, which explores what professionals need to know and apply to be able to implement children’s human rights.
The UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 will impact public bodies, private sector organisations and third sector organisations all over Scotland, as they look to further their work on children’s rights. Together can support organisations to identify situations in which they are already implementing children’s rights in practice, alongside how they can evolve their work using a Children’s Human Rights Approach. Find out more about our principle specific training.
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