Scotland launches national coalition to speed up delivery of the Promise by 2030

The Scottish Government has set up a new national delivery coalition to accelerate progress on the Promise, its commitment that every care-experienced child and young person in Scotland grows up loved, safe and respected, with the changes in place by 2030. Siobhian Brown, the Minister for the Promise, announced it in the Scottish Parliament on 27 October 2026, during Care Experienced Week.

According to the government, the coalition's job is to map and join up work that is already happening across children's and family services and to act as a forum of expertise. It will be chaired jointly by Ms Brown and the Education Secretary, Màiri McAllan, and its members are due to include national and local government, other public services, the third sector and people with lived experience of care. The government says fuller details of membership will be confirmed later this year.

In her statement the minister argued that no single organisation can deliver the Promise on its own. She set out three areas of focus: using the public service reform programme to change how support is offered and how decisions are made, shaped by young people with experience of care; earlier help, so that services step in before families reach crisis; and spreading approaches that work while tackling places where progress is slow or support differs from one area to another. She said the real test would be whether children and young people can feel the change by 2030.

The announcement listed the progress the government says has already been made. That includes a £2,000 Care Leaver Payment, more than £30 million invested in Bairns' Hooses, more than £80 million since 2018-19 through the Scottish Attainment Challenge for activities such as mentoring and outdoor learning, a £9,000 bursary and guaranteed university places for eligible care-experienced students, the passing of the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Act, and an end to placing children in Young Offender Institutions.

For foster and kinship carers, the government again pointed to the Scottish Recommended Allowance, the national minimum allowance for eligible carers. For 2026-27 it rose by 3.8 per cent from April 2026, to £177.68 a week for children aged 0 to 4, £206.71 for ages 5 to 15 and £283.35 for ages 16 to 17. Individual councils can pay more than this minimum, and fees for carers' skills are set locally, so anyone thinking of fostering in Scotland should ask their council or agency what it pays.

What happens next: the coalition is expected to start work once its membership is confirmed later in 2026. The announcement does not say whether it will take on specific fostering issues, such as recruiting and keeping carers, but foster care is one of the main forms of care in Scotland and the Promise covers every child in it. We will report on the coalition's priorities when they are published.