Children’s Rights Manifesto

In its manifesto for the 2026 election, Action for Children focusses on three main issues that need to be addressed.

• Safety: Taking action against children being criminally exploited in Scotland.
• Happiness: Tackling the issue that many children suffer from poverty.
• Foundations: Ensuring that families get the support they need when and however long they need it.

Read Action for Children’s full manifesto

In its manifesto for the 2026 election, the Scottish Forum on Isolation and Loneliness hosted by Befriending Networks, highlights the issue of loneliness. It calls the next Scottish Government to:

·       Declare loneliness and social isolation as an urgent public health priority and commit to bold action that makes Scotland a global leader in addressing the issue

·       Continue to prevent loneliness and social isolation from worsening and the inequality gap from widening

Read Befriending Network’s full manifesto

Carers Trust Scotland together with Carers Scotland, the Coalition of Carers in Scotland, MECOPP, Shared Care Scotland and the Scottish Young Carers Services Alliance, have launched the 2026 Carers Manifesto. They want all of Scotland’s unpaid carers to feel valued, included, and supported as equal partners in care. They include three main points to reach their goal:

• Ensure unpaid carers are supported
• Ensure unpaid carers can stay well
• Ensure unpaid carers are financially secure

Read the Carers Trust’s full manifesto

In its manifesto for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, Children First demands that the next Scottish Government must put children first, protect children and protect childhood by delivering solutions to three pressing issues.

• A comprehensive offer of Whole Family Support to tackle child poverty and give every family the emotional, practical and financial support they need.
• A consistent Bairns Hoose to put children’s recovery at the centre of the justice system.
• A commitment to urgently tackle Online Harm, its impact on child development and the right to a safe childhood.

Read Children First’s full manifesto 

In its manifesto for the 2026 election, Children’s Health Scotland presents six points it wants to see realised to support its goal to support the right of every child to the best possible health.

• Views and Voices: Providing children with accessible information about their health, the legal framework for all children to participate in their healthcare decisions and adequate support when transitioning into adult services.
  
• Expertise and Information: Giving access to child-friendly, more accessible formats of UNCRC and national reports on children’s health and investing in ensuring that everyone has the ability to get these resources.
  
• Improving life experience: Reducing wait times for health services for children, ensuring that they can be cared for at home or in child-appropriate surroundings and an equal focus on children’s physical and mental health.
  
• Training and Resources: Building a national and sustainable child health workforce, with professionals trained to be inclusive, trauma-aware and with knowledge of children’s rights.
  
• Self-management skills and health related play: Introducing policies to give children the right to play in healthcare settings, as well as creating more resources for health-related play.
  
• Dental Health and Special Smiles: Providing specialised training for professionals working with children; creating resources for dental health related play and providing access to inclusive, trauma-informed dental services for all children.

Read Children’s Health Scotland’s full manifesto

Children in Scotland published its manifesto for the 2026 election. In this it shares calls for improvement across five core topics, for a Scotland where all children and young people can be heard and grow up happy, healthy, and having their rights respected.

• Child Poverty: Increasing the Scottish Child Payment immediately, improving employment opportunities for parents and investing in social housing to ensure that all children live in safe, secure and affordable homes.
  
• Children’s Rights: Showing continued leadership on upholding the UNCRC, advocating for UNCRC incorporation by the UK Government and devolved administrations, raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility and working towards extending the access to independent advocacy and views gathering processes to all children who are covered by the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004
  
• Education and Development: Investing in the delivery of early learning and childcare, valuing and resourcing the workforce across all roles contributing to educational outcomes, increasing the investment in specialist provision for children with additional needs, delivering a renewed Additional Support for Learning Action Plan and continuing to deliver the Scottish Government’s programme of education reform
  
• Health and wellbeing: Strengthening efforts to protect childhood health, ensuring that children and young people are shaping Scotland’s digital feature by including them in all stages of digital policy and service design, investing in a national hobby framework, committing to invest in whole family support and continuing to develop the package of support for mental health and wellbeing
  
• Planning and resources: Committing to finding the third sector more fairly, keeping a focus on keeping The Promise, delivering a meaningful public service reform and ensure that workforce development and support is embedded in Scotland’s refreshed digital strategy

Read Children in Scotland’s full manifesto

Child Poverty Action Group Scotland shared a manifesto for the 2026 election that brings together views from thousands of young people in Scotland about what should happen to remove barriers and make school better for children and young people on low incomes. Children and young people make five main calls in the ‘School Shouldn't Cost’ manifesto:

• End child poverty: Make sure our families have what they need so we can come to school ready to learn. 
• Fund every school to fully remove cost pressures from our families and help us overcome poverty-related barriers to learning. 
• Help us with the basics we need to learn, take part and feel included at school: free school meal expansion, uniform support, resources and devices for all and support for curriculum costs. 
• Opportunities for all: Help all of us benefit from life changing school trips and from activities in our communities 
• Involve us!: We can help make our schools and Scotland better - be ambitious about youth voice. 

Read the Child Poverty Action Group’s full manifesto

The Human Rights Consortium Scotland (HRCS) together with Amnesty International have created their Civil Society Working Group manifesto 2026. It centres around three main demands to help ensure that everyone in Scotland has their Human Rights respected.

•            Introduce a Scottish Human Rights Bill
  
•            Implement the UNCRC Act to full effect
  
•  Remove Barriers to access to justice

Read the Civil Society Working Group’s full manifesto 

ERCS has published their manifesto for the 2026 election. They focus on guaranteeing everyone’s right to a clean environment, presenting the following main demands:

• Enshrining the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment in a Scottish Human Rights Act
• Taking action to protect Scottish water from pollution
• Providing affordable, fair and full access to environmental justice

Read ERCS’s full manifesto

In its manifesto for the 2026 elections The Fostering Network makes three core calls to all political parties, encouraging them to take action to better the lives of Care Experienced people.

·       Focus on Care Experienced children and young people

·     Support and value foster carers

·       Invest in and reform the wider system supporting children and young people with Care Experience

Read The Fostering Network’s full manifesto

In their manifesto for the 2026 “Scotland: for girls, by girls”, Girlguiding Scotland makes five calls that need to be realised for a Scotland where all girls can feel happy and safe. 

•     A safe Scotland for all girls
•      Equal Access to Healthcare for all girls
•     Access to safe learning for all girls
•     Committing to keeping all girls safe online
•    Sport and Youth Work designed with girls in mind

Read Girlguiding’s full manifesto.

In its manifesto ‘Our Rights, Your move’ for the 2026 election, HRCS makes nine calls to further realise human rights for everyone in Scotland. This manifesto is to inform prospective parliamentary candidates, and everyone directly engaged in or influencing the development of political party manifestos.

• Incorporate international human rights standards into UK and Scottish legal landscape
• Embed human rights
• Tackle health inequalities
• The immediate reduction of poverty and tackling the cost-of-living crisis in Scotland
• Protect and ensure disabled people’s rights
• Taking action and developing policies against racism and racial discrimination
• Develop and guarantee fair and humane migrant rights
• Access to justice for human rights violations
• Embed environmental rights into Scots law

Read Human Rights Consortium Scotland’s full manifesto

The NSPPC’s Voice of Online Youth has published its manifesto for change, making calls to support a future where every child’s experience online is a positive one. 

•   Better education for all
•   Regulating AI
•             Reducing the harmful impact of online ads
•             Improving reporting
•             Improving privacy and maintaining safety 

Read the NSPPC’s full manifesto

Parenting Across Scotland’s Manifesto for the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, outlines six key policy calls that, if introduced, would make a positive impact on the lives of parents, carers and their families in Scotland.

• Increase the Scottish Child Payment to reduce child poverty
• Ensure that parents and carers are confident champions of their children’s rights by increasing their understanding of the UNCRC
• Put parents’ and carers’ views and experiences at the heart of policy development and implementation
• Deliver universal and intensive whole family support to all that need it, incorporating Open Kindergartens as an effective means of universal provision
• Give ‘parenting with adults’ its own emphasis within national policy, recognising that parenting doesn’t stop when children turn 18
• Invest in a national hobby framework so that every child and young person can take part in a hobby of their choice

Read Parenting Across Scotland’s full manifesto

RCPCH published its manifesto for the 2026 election, outlining in five prescriptions for change, what needs to be done to guarantee every child’s health, wellbeing and access to healthcare.

• Data that Delivers: Using Data to Drive Better Child Health Outcomes
  
• The Power of Prevention: Tackling Health Inequalities
  
• Bridge the Gap: Strengthening Child Health Services
  
• Healing Young Minds: Confronting the Mental Health and ND Emergency 
  
• Building a Healthier Future: Investing in the Child Health Workforce

Read RCPCH’s full manifesto 

In its manifesto for the 2026 election “Voice. Rights. Independence.” the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance sets out three priorities.

·       Addressing the need for independent advocacy

·       Sustainable, high-quality provision, including addressing the consistency and quality of strategic advocacy planning

·       Growing preventative models of independent advocacy, including championing collective and citizen models

Read the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance’s full manifesto

The Scottish Youth Parliament’s 2026-31 Manifesto “Dear Scotland’s Future” has five main topics that matter the most to Scotland’s Children and Young People.

• Accessible, Equitable, and Inclusive Education
• Safe and Supportive Communities
• A Sustainable and Renewable Society
• A Just and Fairer Scotland
• Empowering Young People to Claim their Rights

Read the Scottish Youth Parliament’s full manifesto 

SCVO shares priorities for Scotland’s Essential Sector for the next Scottish Government, in its manifesto it outlines six main points.

• Deliver Fair Funding - reform the public sector funding landscape for voluntary organisations
• Create a partnership of equals - A successful, equitable partnership between the voluntary and public sector
• Commission with communities
• Modernise regulation
• Secure the future of volunteering
• Protect the voluntary sector’s voice

Read SCVO’s full manifesto 

In its manifesto for the 2026 election Shared Parenting Scotland presents five calls for a radical renewal of culture, policy and practice with respect to parenting in all household forms in modern Scotland.

·       A renewed Parenting Strategy for Scotland

·       An independent commission on ‘The Voice of the Child’ and ‘The Best Interests of the Child’

·       Removal of embedded disincentives to shared parenting

·       Reform family courts and professional practice

·       Language and Culture Change

Read Shared Parenting Scotland’s full manifesto

In its manifesto for the 2026 parliamentary elections, UNICEF UK sets out its asks on children’s rights, early childhood and child poverty. UNICEF UK is calling on all political parties to commit to three priorities:

·       Embed children’s rights across government and in communities

·       Invest in the critical period of early childhood and tackle child poverty

·       Put children first in Scotland’s international development work

Read UNICEF UK’s full manifesto

Young Women Demand sets out six policy priorities to ensure that the voices and experiences of young women and girls are at the heart of party manifestos.

• Protect and promote young women’s human rights through the introduction of a Human Rights Bill for Scotland
• Prevent and eliminate violence against young women and girls by providing sustained funding for women’s and youth organisations
• Address online violence against young women and girls through the robust regulation of digital technologies
• Tackle misogynistic and sexist views, attitudes and behaviours amongst young men and boys through increased educational interventions
• Equitable healthcare access and outcomes for young women and girls, particularly in mental health and sexual and reproductive healthcare, by prioritising women’s health as a key policy area
• Equal opportunities for young women and girls to get involved in politics, democracy and decision-making processes

Read Young Women Demand’s full manifesto 

YouthLink Scotland sets out three national commitments in their manifesto for the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections.

• A Right – A Legal Right to Youth Work for All Young People
  Every young person should have an entitlement in law to access youth work services, regardless of postcode, background, or income.
• A Space – Universal Access to Spaces for Youth Work
  Guarantee free, fair, and consistent access to public spaces – such as schools, leisure centres, and community venues – for youth work providers, and create new, dedicated youth spaces in every community.
• A Future – Sustained and Increased Investment in Youth Work
  Implement fair funding principles with ring-fenced, multi-year funding at both national and local level, rebuilding the workforce and ensuring long-term stability.

Read YouthLink Scotland’s full manifesto

Who Cares? Scotland has published their manifesto for the 2026 election. “Connected by Care” has five priority calls to action.

• Ensure the Promise is kept in full and fully resourced, with processes to track its delivery up to and beyond 2030.
• Keep Care Experienced people’s voice at the heart of the Promise, implementing the statutory right to independent, relationship based, lifelong and accessible advocacy for all Care Experienced people who need it.
• Every child in care should be offered mental health support, and Care Experienced people of all ages should be able to access trauma-informed support. Services providing spaces for connection including befriending should be accessible to Care Experienced people of all ages.
• Adopt a whole-school approach to supporting Care Experienced children and young people, such as their ‘Communities that Care’ model.
• Introduce the Scottish Human Rights Bill which includes Care Experienced people within the equality duty.

Read Who Cares? full manifesto