Our Stories: Aim 1 – Care
Corporate Parenting and Participation
Working together in a meaningful way with Hearings-experienced children, young people and their parents and carers, as well as our care-experienced staff and partner agencies to improve our services continues to be the foundation of our approach. Here are some of our key milestones in the last 12 months.
Modern Apprenticeship scheme
In February 2026 we appointed our 15th care experienced Modern Apprentice. Our new colleague is working across the Tayside and Fife Locality in our Arbroath, Dundee and Perth offices, providing a wide range of services to children, young people and families as well as undertaking an SVQ in Business and Administration. In July 2025 we said goodbye to our sixth work experience candidate who moved on to permanent full time employment after a fantastic seven months of work experience and learning and development opportunities in our Stornoway office.
Voice of Experience
In September 2025, SCRA hosted the Community of Practice for Siblings in Glasgow and the VOERG presented at this event. In March 2026 the VOERG attended a two day learning and development event, as well as offering consultation opportunities to SCRA’s new Corporate Parenting Manager on the development of our trauma programme. They have also consulted with the Digital Team on the portal for children and young people.
Engagement with partners
Our engagement work with partners remains one of SCRA’s key strengths and ensures we collaboratively improve our services for children, young people and families. In the past year, SCRA has delivered and hosted talks and accessed improvement, learning and development opportunities from the National Leadership Network, the Salvesen Mindroom, MCR Pathways, STAF (Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum) Participation Network and Who Cares? Scotland’s Collaborative Corporate Parenting Network, Our Hearings, Our Voice and multiple Champions Boards.
Neurodiversity Champions
The Neurodiversity Champions Group, which is SCRA’s largest group with over 40 staff members, continues to lead on national improvements and drive change. The group not only works to improve services for Neurodivergent children, young people and families involved in the Children’s Hearings System, but also services for staff and partner agencies.
In the past year, the group have delivered training and awareness raising in Localities, and rolled out new sensory items for Hearings centres across Scotland in line with our Hearing Centre Design Standards. They have improved reception, gardens and public areas for families to include sensory areas and sensory items, written briefing sheets too sport and educate staff, and have worked with various internal teams such as Digital to influence and improve services for families.
Corporate Parenting and Participation Group
SCRA’s Participation Group was relaunched as the Corporate Parenting and Participation Group (CPPG ) in June 2025. Since that time the group hosted three quarterly meetings, working with staff on the group to promote awareness of Corporate Parenting duties throughout SCRA’s teams, as well as driving service improvement and influencing new participative opportunities for families.
Part of the work of the CPPG is to influence ensuring improved services and provisions for families are made available in all of our Hearing centres, including communications, toys, books, snacks, and sensory items, as well as ensuring
that Localities are improving their amenities in line with our Corporate Parenting Duties. In turn the Participation Lead offers learning and development opportunities for staff focussed on participation and service improvement, including external training and opportunities with partner agencies such as Who Cares? Scotland, the National Leadership Network and MCR Pathways.
Participation and Hearing Centres
In August 2025 the Hearing suites in Glasgow were launched in line with the new Hearing Room Design Standards. SCRA’s Participation Lead and Lee Boyd (the appointed architects) worked closely with Hearings experienced children and young people from Glasgow children’s homes, Our Hearings Our Voice, Inverclyde Champions Board and Voice of Experience Reference Group as well as partner agencies to participate in developing the design standards. The launch of the new Hearing centre was an enormous success and the young people involved attended to see the outcome of their work and dedication.
Imagination Library
SCRA’s partnership with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) is in its sixth enormously successful year. Since 2020, we have gifted thousands of books to young children in partnership with the DPIL. SCRA built on the success of the programme to run our own book gifting programme for children and young people aged 6 +, which we piloted, then rolled out nationally in 2024.
Working with Our Hearings, Our Voice
Working with Our Hearings, Our Voice, our Corporate Parenting Manager has been delivering Corporate Parenting sessions in each locality to promote awareness of our Corporate Parenting duties. At the sessions, our Corporate Parenting Manager has also been promoting the fantastic guide ‘Seeing Beyond the Surface: What Children and Young People Wish all Adults Knew’.
The interactive guide explores six key themes, brought to life through the voices and creative expressions of children and young people with lived experience of the care system, and the Children’s Hearings System. Their insights, shared through written quotes, videos, artwork, poetry, voice recordings, and more offer powerful and honest accounts of the barriers to delivering effective, child-centred care and support, as identified by those whose voices matter most: children and young people. Emotions run deep throughout: from frustration and disappointment to hope, resilience, and love.
The success of the sessions has led to further sessions with Corporate Parenting Boards, spreading the messages to a far wider reaching audience.
Corporate Parenting training
All of our Locality Support Administrators (LSAs) have completed a full day of Corporate Parenting training delivered jointly by Elite and the Corporate Parenting Manager. The training was designed to ensure that key Corporate Parenting messages are communicated in a meaningful and practical way, recognising the vital role LSAs play in the experiences of children, young people and families engaging with SCRA.
The sessions highlighted the significant contribution LSAs make every day through their compassionate, trauma-informed approach and celebrated the many examples of excellent practice demonstrated across our localities. By recognising the impact of these interactions and strengthening understanding of Corporate Parenting responsibilities, the training has further reinforced our commitment to ensuring that every child and family experiences care, respect and understanding throughout their journey with SCRA.
Who Cares? Scotland assessment
Earlier this year, with input from Who Cares? Scotland, colleagues from across SCRA came together to undertake a Corporate Parenting self-assessment. The assessment provided an opportunity to evaluate our effectiveness as a Corporate Parent, reflect on our achievements, and identify areas where we can continue to strengthen our approach.
The findings were extremely positive. Across all key areas assessed, we were able to demonstrate clear evidence of both the impact and effectiveness of our Corporate Parenting activity. This reflects the commitment of colleagues throughout the organisation to improving outcomes for care-experienced children and young people. While the assessment highlighted many strengths, the team also identified opportunities to build on the excellent work already taking place across SCRA. Plans are now in place to further develop these areas, ensuring that we continue to enhance our Corporate Parenting practice and deliver the best possible support for care-experienced children and young people.
Inclusion & Diversity
At SCRA, we are committed to creating an inclusive, accessible and equitable organisation for our staff, children, young people and families. During 2025/26, we continued to build on this commitment through the delivery of our Equality Outcomes 2024-2027, strengthening our evidence base, improving workforce inclusion and investing in long-term culture change.
Meeting our equality duties
Throughout the year we published a suite of statutory equality reports, including our Mainstreaming Progress Report, Employee Information Statistics Report and Pay Gap Report. Together, these reports provide valuable insight into workforce diversity and help us target action where it is most needed.
Our reporting highlighted that many of the inequalities experienced within our workforce are driven by structural factors, including representation and occupational segregation. This evidence is helping to shape future priorities and support a more inclusive organisation.
Enhancing equality data
A key focus during the year was improving how equality information on children and families referred to us is recorded and used. Significant progress was made towards a new, standardised equality data solution within our case management system, aligned to national standards and partner agencies.
This work will improve the quality and consistency of information available to SCRA, helping us better understand the children, young people and families we support and ensuring that future decisions are informed by stronger evidence. We will be working with partners to roll out these improvements in the coming year.
Building an inclusive culture
During 2025/26, we invested in a range of initiatives aimed at strengthening inclusion across the organisation.
A new mandatory Equality, Diversity and Inclusion e-learning programme was launched, establishing a consistent foundation of knowledge and awareness for all staff.
During 2025/26, SCRA introduced its Active Bystander training programme, with staff and managers participating in six face-to-face sessions. The training supports our Inclusive Standards and Behaviours Framework and helps colleagues develop the confidence and skills to recognise, challenge and respond appropriately to behaviours that undermine an inclusive workplace culture.
We also progressed our anti-racism work through partnerships with external organisations and preparation for an enhanced learning programme that will support staff and managers to develop greater confidence, understanding and capability.
Our Black and Asian Workers Group continued to provide a valuable forum for peer support, discussion and organisational learning, while our Inclusion Ambassadors and staff networks remained central to driving inclusion across SCRA.
Inclusive recruitment and workforce representation
Improving workforce diversity remains a key priority. During the year, an independent review of recruitment practices was commissioned to identify opportunities to enhance consistency, improve candidate experience and support more inclusive recruitment outcomes.
Encouragingly, workforce data shows continued improvement in the diversity of applicants, including increases in applications from men, disabled people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds. This provides a stronger foundation for future progress as we work to ensure fair and equitable outcomes throughout the recruitment process.
Supporting LGBT+ inclusion
SCRA successfully achieved LGBT Youth Scotland’s Charter Foundation Award for the second time, recognising our continued commitment to creating an inclusive environment for LGBT+ staff and service users. The assessment highlighted positive leadership commitment, staff engagement and strong policy development, providing a solid platform for further progress in the years ahead.
Accessibility and British Sign Language
We continued to deliver our British Sign Language (BSL) Plan 2024-2029 and support greater accessibility across the organisation.
In January 2026, we launched our latest BSL film on rights for children and young people in Hearings in January. We attended the excellent event organised by the British Deaf Association Scotland in February 2026 to highlight progress and best practice against Scotland’s National BSL Plan.
During BSL Week in March 2026, staff-led learning activities promoted awareness and practical communication skills, while colleagues also contributed to national work through participation in the British Sign Language Justice Advisory Group. These activities support our ongoing commitment to removing barriers and improving access for BSL users.
Looking Ahead
While significant progress has been made, we recognise that achieving meaningful and lasting inclusion requires sustained effort. During the coming year, we will continue to build on the strong foundations established through our equality outcomes, focusing on embedding inclusive practices, improving workforce diversity, strengthening equality data and delivering lasting culture change across SCRA.
Sustainability
SCRA’s Corporate and Business Plans set out our commitment to fulfil specific environmental duties as a part of our functions, namely:
- To contribute to the delivery of Scotland’s national net zero target (mitigation – reducing greenhouse gas emissions);
- To help deliver Scotland’s climate change adaptation programme (adaptation –resilience to the impacts of a changing climate); and
- To act sustainably (sustainable development as a core value).
Our goal is to work in ways that are environmentally responsible, financially sustainable, and aligned with national climate targets. This commitment is reflected in our strategic planning, operational improvements, and the work of our Environmental Ambassadors.
Our Strategic Approach
In January 2024, our Strategic Sustainability Group (SSG) reaffirmed eight priority areas that are guiding our sustainability efforts. These priorities are now embedded in our Corporate and Business Plans:
- Property Use – Creating energy-efficient offices and Hearing Centres.
- Energy Consumption – Using resources more intelligently and efficiently.
- Travel – Promoting active and sustainable commuting options.
- Waste Minimisation – Emphasising reduction, reuse, and recycling.
- Sustainable Procurement – Factoring in environmental, social, and economic impacts in purchasing decisions.
- Biodiversity – Enhancing and protecting our natural environment.
- Staff Awareness and Behaviour Change – Building knowledge and encouraging sustainable practices.
- Data Capture and Analysis – Tracking progress and identifying areas for improvement.
Targets and Accountability
SCRA is committed to meeting the following sustainability targets:
- 10–20% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2022/23 levels within three years.
- Zero waste to landfill by 2030.
- Net Zero GHG emissions by 2045.
Bridge Plan
In order to support the prioritisation of environmental improvement efforts of the organisation in the period between 2025 and the creation of a new sustainability plan aligned to the next Corporate Plan in 2027, it was agreed by the SSG that we should establish a Bridge Plan.
The plan seeks to promote the priorities which emphasise developing the sustainability culture within SCRA, putting the attitudes, efforts and choices of staff at the centre, as well as options which require less direct financial input.
The plan is split into two phases, from October 2025 to March 2026 (Phase 1), and from April 2026 to March 2027 (Phase 2).
Phase 1 will focus on creating a more energised staff base, with individuals, teams and localities more actively involved in driving organisational awareness and improvements. This period will build upon the good work of the environmental awareness campaign that the Communications team have been leading. This period will primarily be about familiarisation and normalisation of what the priorities are, what we mean when we talk about them, what they are trying to achieve and what role all of us can and do play in achieving them. We want people to feel is it easy to incorporate the priorities into their everyday role without it feeling burdensome, additive or irrelevant.
Using these principles of culture and ease to guide our approach, the priorities which will be concentrating on in Phase 1 are:
- Travel
- Waste Minimisation
- Staff Awareness, Engagement and Behaviour Change
- Improving Data Capture & Analysis
Phase 2 will look to introduce more ambitious actions and activities. We will establish a solid data grounding for measuring our performance. We will consider the introduction some policy interventions to drive behavioural change within the organisation and implement nudge techniques to promote positive and more sustainable actions and choices by all staff in all our operations. Phase 2 will also be the period in which we will develop, consult on and deliver a sustainability/net zero plan for the period 2027-2030.
In this phase we will continue to develop our efforts in Travel, Waste and Staff priorities but will expand the scope of our work to leverage some of our Phase 1 actions to drive improvements in:
- Energy Consumption
- Improving Data Capture & Analysis
Phase 1 Progress
Some key areas of progress during Phase 1 were:
- A year-long campaign was held to raise awareness and support the work SCRA is doing to contribute to the delivery of Scotland’s national net zero target. Led by our Environmental Ambassadors, we wanted to encourage our colleagues to act sustainably and provide helpful ideas and resources. Topics included food waste, recycling, sustainable travel, biodiversity and energy consumption.
- The first joint event between environmental ambassadors and the SSG was held to spend time together, learn more about the good work happening across the organisation and to build a shared sense of purpose.
- Localities continued to undertake environmental improvement actions as part of the locality plans for the year.
- We commenced a project to establish and understand energy use across all of our buildings. This is a significant piece of work that will give us excellent information on our consumption across the organisation.
- Environmental Ambassadors were invited to attend the SSG as standing members to further improve collaborative working.
- The creation of travel guides to each office, detailing public transport options to encourage people to use the car less.
- A glossary of terms was created and shared on Connect (our staff intranet) to create a common language and understanding of environmental and sustainability terms.
Looking to The Future
SCRA’s sustainability journey is one of continuous improvement, collaboration, and commitment. As we move forward, we will continue to refine our plans, engage our workforce, and invest in meaningful actions that support a greener, more sustainable future.
The plan for Phase 2 will evolve as we learn more from our data, as we work more closely with the environmental ambassadors and as, hopefully, staff and teams become more comfortable with some of the changes being made.
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