Doughnut shaped pie chart - graphic

Research & evidence library

Parenting across Scotland is developing a library of research for practitioners and policy makers.

Browse the library here

Sign up for our newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter and keep up-to-date with parenting policy, good practice, research and events

Sign up

Policy overview: Scottish Parliament Elections 2026

With the Scottish Parliament elections taking place this Thursday (7 May), we’ve had a quick look through the main party manifestos* to see what they are offering to parents, carers and families. 

Not all powers are devolved to the Scottish Parliament, some reserved matters sit at a UK level but there are still plenty of ways that incoming MSPs can advocate to improve the lives of families.  

This brief overview gives some examples of what parties are promoting ahead of the elections but are not all of their calls. You can read more on each of the parties manifestos in the links below. 

Note: Reform UK are not mentioned the following analysis as their manifesto did not contain policies reflecting the following themes.

Cost of living / poverty 

 

SNP 

Labour 

Greens  

Conservatives 

Scottish Child Payment 

Expand £40 payment to all parents of newborns for 1st year of life 

Increase to £40 for children under 1 

Increase to £40, with aim of £55 by 2030, and offer supplements to the poorest families 

Implement a 2 child limit on the payment 

The Greens and Conservatives both made specific reference to the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act which sets out the targets for the Scottish Government to meet in order to reduce child poverty by 2030. As these targets are not currently on track to be met, the Greens have announced they will amend the Act to require the Scottish Government to meet the targets, whilst the Conservatives have said they support the aims of the Act.

Childcare and work 

All the parties (except Reform) set out ways in which they would enhance the childcare system to better support families and parents into work as shown in the table. Additional calls include Labour who talk about establishing a Parent Works Scheme, with training and support to help parents find well-paid jobs and help lift families out of poverty. 

 

 

SNP 

Labour 

Greens  

Conservatives 

Lib Dems 

childcare 

Expand childcare to all children from 9 months to end of primary school 

Increase the value of tax free childcare to £3,000 per child 

 

‘Funding following the child’ model 

Increase 1140 hours to all 2 year olds as soon as possible 

 

Expand funded childcare for all children aged 6months to 2 years, aiming to provide a universal 570 hours for this group by end of 2031 

Implementing a true ‘funding follows the child’ model. 

 

‘Extra hours’ model of extended childcare for children aged 9 months 

Enhancement of funded childcare 

 

Ensuring 1140 hours starts from 3rd birthday 

 

Schools (meals, uniforms and phone bans) 

Four of the main parties have referenced the cost of the school day, with many focusing on the cost of school meals and breakfast clubs. 

 

 

SNP 

Labour 

Greens  

Conservatives 

Free school meals 

Expand to all primary school children 

 

Expand to primary 6 &7 with ultimate goal for all school aged children 

 

School meal debt  

Wipe out school meal debt for good 

Maintain write off funds and review thresholds for free school meals in secondary schools 

 

 

Breakfast clubs  

Breakfast clubs in all primary schools and special schools 

Breakfast clubs in all primary schools 

Breakfast clubs in all primary schools and special schools 

Support introduction of breakfast clubs for all primary school pupils 

Phone use 

Legislate for phone ban in classrooms 

Ban in classrooms 

 

Support a  national ban on mobile phones in schools 

 

 

The SNP and Greens also reference the cost of school clothing, with the SNP pledging to update current school clothing grant in line with inflation, whilst the Greens say they will make the existing guidance to cap the cost of school uniforms statutory. 

 

Whole family support 

Our Open Kindergarten work is a form of whole family support which we have been testing across different local authorities for several years and promoting. It was interesting to see three parties mention whole family support with Labour and the Lib Dems offering to deliver family support hubs. The SNP has committed to delivering a comprehensive offer of whole family support. 

Children and young people’s access to hobbies 

PAS is currently campaigning for Scotland to introduce a hobby model similar to Nordic countries which would support children and young people to access a hobby of their choice for free. Although not directly reflective of this, there were some nods in manifestos to increasing children’s participation in activities – mostly in sports. The pledges are framed from different perspectives. 

SNP 
  • £40m investment into Summer of Sport 
  • Sports Taster Fund worth £5m to get children and young people interested in some sports 
  • Free swimming lessons for primary school children 
  • Work with Scottish Disability Sport to ensure more young people have the opportunity to try out boccia 

Greens 
  • Introduce the Children’s Sports Card to provide affordable access to recreational or sporting activities for all school-age children 
  • Give every primary pupil the opportunity to learn and develop through expressive arts such as music, drama, visual art and dance 

Lib Dems 
  • Expand the provision of extracurricular activities, such as music, sport, drama, debating and entrepreneurship, starting by piloting a new free entitlement for disadvantaged children 
  • Promoting opportunities for local sports clubs to preserve threatened local facilities as community assets 

Conservatives 
  • Ensure physical education is supported in schools, including swimming lessons. 
  • Ensure free music lessons are available for all schoolchildren in Scotland. 

Labour 
  • Guaranteeing every P5 pupil the opportunity to learn basic swimming and water safety 
  • Establishing access to music tuition for all primary school pupils 
  • Funding summer holiday clubs, with two weeks of summer activities for primary aged children 
  • Expanding after school clubs, helping more young people to access sport and cultural activities outside of school while helping parents to maintain more working hours. 

 

*Scottish National Party, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party, Scottish Labour Party, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Greens, Reform UK