Parenting Across Scotland Manifesto 2026
Ahead of the 2026 Scottish elections, we launched our manifesto, which outlines six key policy calls that we believe, if introduced, would have a profound and positive impact on the lives of parents, carers and their families in Scotland.
The Manifesto was created using all the calls, campaigns and policy activity PAS has been involved in over the last five years, as well as the key policy areas our members and partners were working on. We’ve also looked at what parents and carers were saying about their lives and needs, and our 2024 Parenting Evidence Review proved very helpful in this regard.
The calls within the manifesto reflect the areas that PAS have done a great deal of work on. The manifesto first lays out some important questions that we urge all political parties in Scotland to think about some big and important questions;
- How do we define a family in 2026 and ensure our definitions are flexible, inclusive and reflective of Scotland as it is today and in the future?
- How can we raise our expectations about what a good childhood looks like in Scotland?
- What does quality whole family support look like, and how can we make it a reality for all families who need it?
- How can parents and carers be part of the journey to ensuring that all children realise their rights?
- How do we achieve our ambitions for tacking child poverty?
PAS’ six manifesto calls provide our best, focussed response to these questions today. Collectively they help broaden our understanding of what families mean, they tackle the challenges families face, they place rights, participation and social justice at the core of policy making, and they provide a positive aspiration for children and young people’s lives. They are as follows:
- Increase the Scottish Child Payment to £55 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
Despite the manifesto being important in our lobbying work in the lead up to the Scottish elections and then meeting with newly elected Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), we’ll also be using it as a framework for PAS' overall policy, projects and engagement activity. These are calls we are committed to working on.
PAS will also be supporting other manifestos, where we share their views and values – so you will see PAS supporting the End Child Poverty Coalition manifesto and a manifesto for babies, for instance.
