The Scottish Government is consulting on proposals for financial transparency and profit limitation in children’s residential care. These are part of the Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill introduced to Parliament in June 2025.
The Government made a commitment to remove profit from the care of looked after children, in line with the recommendation of The Promise, the 2020 report of the Independent Care Review for children and young people.
However the Government is now reneging on this. It proposes to allow profit to continue to be made from the care of the most vulnerable children, but give Ministers powers to limit the level of profit, to ensure these are not ‘excessive’. This is UNISON’s response to the consultation on these proposals.
Our response to the consultation on the Children (Care etc) Bill is available here.