The Scottish Government have announced an extra £10.5m to improve education outcomes for care experienced children and young people. The £10.5 will be allocated across each local authority to be spent according to the needs of the children and young people in their area via the Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund. 

At the recent Cross Party Group on Care Leaver meetings we heard many asks around supports needed by care experienced young people to access further and higher education so we welcome this announcement and look forward to see how our members use this injection of money to support their care experienced young people.

First Minister Humza Yousaf, said:

“I am fully committed to Keeping the Promise - every single child should grow up loved, safe, supported and respected, as well as being given every opportunity to flourish and reach their full potential.

“Supporting care-experienced young people includes helping them to continue or re-enter education and The Care Experienced Children and Young People Fund plays a vital role in delivering additional support to improve educational outcomes.

“We know it is making a real difference as the latest figures show more care experienced children and young people are staying in school for longer and achieving higher qualifications.

“Improving outcomes for care-experienced young people requires a truly national effort, and the Scottish Government will continue to work with local authorities, schools and others to ensure that all young people in Scotland can meet their full potential.”

COSLA Children and Young People Spokesperson Cllr Tony Buchanan said:

“Local Government is committed to keeping the Promise made to care experience children and young people by 2030. We have welcomed this funding, which councils have used in recent years for a number of innovative approaches responding to the diverse needs of care experience children and young people across Scotland. This has included ‘virtual’ head teacher and mentoring schemes.

“We will continue to work with the Scottish Government, across Local Government and with our partners across the education system to ensure that all children and young people grow up loved, safe and respected and achieve the best possible outcomes.”

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See also - Cross Party Group