6. Joint planning approach for Children and Families - Cabinet (Education) - 27 January 2026
North Ayrshire Council · 27 January 2026
Back to Cabinet — 27 January 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL 27 January 2026 Cabinet (Education) Title: Joint planning approach for Children and Families Purpose: To provide an update on progress in developing a joint plan for children and families from 2026. Recommendation: That Cabinet: • notes the progress made to date in developing a joint plan; • supports the continued development work; and • notes the proposed governance arrangements for the plan. 1. Executive Summary 1.1 This paper sets out progress towards a more integrated approach to formal planning and reporting across Children’s Services and related areas in North Ayrshire. Current arrangements involve multiple plans and reporting cycles managed separately, leading to possible duplication and fragmented oversight. A joint working group has started aligning these plans by reviewing existing strategies, analysing the children and young people data profile, and developing a shared vision with related actions and measures. 1.2 We share a collective responsibility to promote the wellbeing, rights, and outcomes of children and young people in our area. This responsibility is underpinned by key statutory duties, including: • Children’s Services Planning: Every local authority and its Health Board must jointly prepare a Children’s Services Plan for each three-year period. • Child Poverty Reporting: The local authority and Health Board must jointly produce an annual Local Child Poverty Action Report. • Children’s Rights Compliance: Local authorities and Health Boards, as listed public authorities, must act in a way that is compatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and embed children’s rights in their decision-making and service delivery. 1.3 While the Council and Health Board hold overall responsibility, these duties require close collaboration with other CPP partners and meaningful engagement with children, young people, and families throughout the development and review of plans. Together, these plans form a suite of strategic documents that guide our shared efforts to improve outcomes and reduce inequalities for children and young people across all relevant partners.
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1.4 Recognising the links across this suite of children’s services plans and reports, we are taking a phased approach to aligning planning and reporting, supported by a shared set of child and family wellbeing indicators. This will streamline processes, strengthen accountability, and enable more effective targeting of resources to improve outcomes for children, young people, and families. 1.5 The work sits within our wider ambitions of strengthening whole family support. We are one of the Scottish Government’s ‘early adopter’ authorities, with that programme established to address the twin barriers of: i) policy complexity and overlap, and ii) funding and reporting approaches. 2. Background 2.1. Currently, various teams and departments hold individual responsibilities for planning and reporting on services impacting children, young people, and families. This stems from the range of statutory requirements each with their own policy and guidance. These include: • Children’s Services Planning (Part 3 of Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014). The legislation sets out a requirement to develop and publish a Children’s Services Plan every three years, reporting annually on its progress. These plans describe how partners will work together and with local communities, to plan and deliver the right types of services and support so these result in improved life experiences and outcomes for the children and families living in that area. • Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017. This legislation sets out a requirement to develop and publish an annual report to: describe measures taken and planned to meet 2030 Scottish Government child poverty targets; include income- maximisation supports, advice and financial assistance; and highlight tailored actions for families facing additional challenges due to protected characteristics. • UNCRC Incorporation (Scotland) Act 2024. This legislation sets out a requirement to develop and publish report on actions taken to comply with UNCRC and outline future improvement plans. This supports the integration of children’s human rights into planning, communications, and decision-making. 2.2 Despite the best endeavours of teams to work collaboratively, the current separate reporting structures inevitably results in a degree of duplication, crossover, and complex governance arrangements. 2.3 We are at a critical point in the planning cycle, and there is an opportunity now to integrate some key plans from 2026. In particular, the current Child Poverty Action Plan, the Children’s Services Plan, and the Children’s Rights Plan will all come to a natural end in 2026. In addition, our statutory responsibility to report on Children’s Rights will commence in 2026. Therefore, we are working towards developing a joint plan and report incorporating Child Poverty, Children’s Services and Children’s Rights for the period 2026-2029, the approach adopted will ensure that the Council and other partners continue to meet statutory planning and reporting duties. 2.3 Joining the planning approaches is in line with the Scottish Government’s Whole Family Support (WFS) project, where we are one of seven ‘early adopter’ local authorities. The Whole Family Support approach recognises that reporting complexity and overlap acts as a barrier to local authorities and aims to address this by increasing permissions and reducing reporting and bureaucracy burdens.
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2.4 As an early adopter, we are in the process of agreeing with Scottish Government the parameters of a flexible approach to outcomes and aligning reporting with WFS outcomes. The WFS approach further considers the potential flexibility around funding lines including a range of budget areas. We will continue to work closely with Scottish Government colleagues to finalise this detail, with aspirations that FY 2026/27 will be a ‘development year’ ahead of wider rollout for all councils in 2027/28. Current indications are that increased permissions and reduced reporting will be dependent on agreement of an outcomes framework, with a further expectation that councils enable a multiagency approach including local partners. 2.5 By streamlining relevant indicators, we can gain a more coherent and nuanced understanding of the impact of our collective efforts on child and family wellbeing. This would continue to shift traditionally siloed data practices to reveal an interconnected picture of outcomes. With a shared and consistent evidence base, our strategic planning and decision making would become more robust, enabling us to target resources towards where they will have the greatest impact. 2.6 A cross-service working group has been established to prepare for this transition. The group has: reviewed existing plans to identify overlaps and gaps; analysed the children and young people data profile to inform priorities; drawn on professional expertise and knowledge from across services; and developed a shared vision. The group are currently working to develop the related actions and performance framework to support the plan. 2.7 The Children’s Services Strategic Partnership (CSSP), which sits below the CPP, has responsibility for overseeing Children’s Services planning. In November 2025, the CSSP approved a set of draft core values and the direction of travel. The intention is that the CSSP will continue to take on the primary governance role for the integrated plan. To support this, the current CSSP structure, membership and terms of reference will be reviewed as part of new plan arrangements. The Executive Youth Council will be recruiting new members in early 2026 which will have responsibility in holding the delivery of 3-year plan to account, contributing to the review, and creating a child- friendly version of annual action plans. 2.8 In addition, we recognise that the Community Planning Partnership (CPP) also has a significant role in overseeing work that impacts children, young people, and families. We will continue to explore governance options to ensure clarity and alignment continues across these structures. In the CPP workshop in December 2025, partners endorsed the core values, approach, and high-level governance arrangements. 2.9 The process of strengthening alignment across governance, planning and service provision is complex and multi-faceted. The Scottish Government’s WFS approach is underway but is operating on a multi-phase basis with real-time learning integrated into the process. Similarly, we are viewing our own local reform as incremental. The opportunity to align these areas now as a result of natural policy cycles is timely. However, we believe there may be scope to go further than this over time based upon lessons-learned in this initial phase. Key feedback from other councils who have embarked upon this journey has been to move one step at a time rather than attempting to deliver everything at once. Our overarching goal remains to further strengthen our capacity to deliver integrated and holistic support to those residents who require it.
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3. Proposals 3.1 Cabinet is asked to: i) Note the progress made to date by the cross-service working group in reviewing existing plans, data and developing a shared vision and core values. ii) Support ongoing development work to align reporting and planning, including a shared set of child and family wellbeing indicators. iii) Note the proposed governance arrangements and provide any comment as desired. 4. Implications/Socio-economic Duty Financial 4.1 There are no financial implications arising directly from this report. Across plans resources are allocated both on a recurring and non-recurring basis to support priorities, as plans are integrated opportunities may arise to better maximise the use of resource across the system, including opportunities whereby the Scottish Government may support greater flexibility over a number of funding streams that are currently ringfenced. Human Resources 4.2 None. Legal 4.3 The joint planning approach meets our statutory obligations under the Children’s Services Planning (Part 3 of Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014); the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017; and the UNCRC Incorporation (Scotland) Act 2024. Equality/Socio-economic 4.4 The joint plan actively seeks to reduce inequality and improve the socio-economic outcomes for North Ayrshire residents through increasing the efficiency of resource deployment and improving the provision of wraparound support for those families / households who stand to benefit most. Climate Change and Carbon 4.5 None. Key Priorities 4.6 The joint plan directly demonstrates activity that contributes to our four Council Plan priorities, with a particular focus on transitioning to a Wellbeing economy. Community Wealth Building 4.7 Over the medium- to long-term, improving support for children and families in this manner will support our wider ambitions around Community Wealth Building.
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Islands Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) 4.8 None. United Nations Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 4.9 The joint plan explicitly demonstrates our commitment to Children’s Rights and our continued work to ensure children’s rights are being met. Consumer Duty 4.10 None. 5. Consultation 5.1 The joint plan has been developed based on feedback from a range of consultation and engagement feedback, including feedback from children and young people. In creating the plan, we have engaged with the cross-service working group, the Children’s Services Strategic Partnership, and the Community Planning Partnership Board. Ongoing consultation and engagement will inform the Plan over the next three years. Sam Anson Executive Director (Education) For further information please contact Claire Coburn, Project Manager (Child Poverty), on clairecoburn@north-ayrshire.gov.uk. Background Papers N/A