The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill, also known as the Promise Bill, was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 17 June 2025. The Bill included plans to expand access to aftercare and independent advocacy, limit profit-making in residential care, create a register of foster carers, and reform aspects of the children's hearing system.
We welcomed the Bill's introduction and were particularly pleased by provisions to create a national register of foster carers, something we have long campaigned for. Read our news story responding to the Bill.
Stage one
We submitted written evidence on the Bill to the Children's Committee in August 2025 and gave evidence in the Scottish Parliament in September.
The Children's Minister, Natalie Don-Innes MSP, gave evidence on the Bill in November. We published a blog analysing some of the key areas relevant to fostering that were discussed in her evidence session.
The Children's Committee published their stage one report in December, advising the Scottish Parliament to support the general principles of the Bill.
On 14 January 2026, the Scottish Parliament debated the general principles of the Bill and voted for it to pass to stage two.
Stage two
We worked with Martin Whitfield MSP on amendments for stage two of the Bill, covering Continuing Care and a national register of foster carers. We also supported the Children's Minister's amendments on foster carer finances.
See our briefings on each topic below, with support for our amendments from Aberlour, Who Cares? Scotland, Barnardo's Scotland and Staf (Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum):
The Committee debated the stage two amendments across three sessions on 4, 11 and 18 February 2026 and voted for it to pass to stage three. While they didn't accept all the amendments we worked on, we did see some progress in each area. Read about the Committee's decisions here.
Stage three
We worked with Martin Whitfield MSP again on further amendments on Continuing Care and foster carer finances. We were pleased to have support from Barnardo’s Scotland and Who Cares? Scotland for these amendments.
See our briefings on each topic below:
Amendments at Stage 3 were debated in the chamber on 18 March 2026. We are pleased that some key amendments we worked on were accepted, but not all made it into the final Bill. See below for a summary of our amendments:
Finances
Our amendment that we worked with Martin Whitfield MSP to table to require fostering services to publish separate allowance and fee rates was successful.
Our amendment to require Ministers to use their powers to make regulations setting out allowance and other payment rates for foster carers was unsuccessful, with Minister Natalie Don-Innes stating it was unnecessary as similar powers exist in the Looked After Children Regulations 2009.
Our amendment to ensure pay parity between local authority and independent fostering services was also unsuccessful, as the Minister said it would be appropriate to interfere with the arrangements that local authorities make for fostering services.
Amendments to require the Care Inspectorate (through its inspections) to monitor and report on foster care providers' allowances and other payments to increase transparency did not make it into the final Bill as the Minister warned against extending the Care Inspectorate’s remit and duplicating the role of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, which will provide financial monitoring for fostering services when they become charities (as provided for elsewhere in the Bill).
Our amendment to include an uprating duty on any other payments that may be set out in future regulations, such as fees, was not included in the final Bill. Minister Natalie Don-Innes cited powers that already exist in regulations to achieve this and was concerned about creating inequities in treatment between foster carers and kinship carers.
Continuing Care
Amendments to extend the discretionary upper age threshold for Continuing Care to age 26 and introduce a right to return to Continuing Care passed with the support of the outgoing First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. However, our amendment to bring Continuing Care within scope of the UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 2024 was unsuccessful, with Minister Natalie Don-Innes stating she is satisfied that the provisions in the Bill and the relevant provisions of the 1995 act are compatible with the UN Convention and would not want to give rise to any unintended consequences.
Bill becomes an Act
The Bill passed unanimously on 19 March 2026 and received Royal Assent on 15 May 2026. The Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning Act) (Scotland) Act 2026 can be found here: Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Act 2026.
Read our statement on the passing of the Act here: The Fostering Network welcomes ‘landmark step’ as The Promise Bill becomes law
What's next?
While this Act is a landmark step in Scotland’s journey to keeping the Promise, there is still work to do to implement the Care Review's recommendations by 2030. We will be working with the Scottish Government to influence the implementation of key changes in the Act such as the register of foster carers and will continue to push for foster carers and care-experienced people to have a greater voice in policy decisions.
For more information, please contact [email protected].