# Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Act 2026, Section 17: Kinship care needs assessment

Extent: S
Status: prospective

(1) The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 is amended by subsections (2) and (3).
(2) After section 71, insert—
“Kinship care assistance: comprehensive needs assessment
71A (1) A local authority must, in relation to a person falling within section 71(3) in the authority’s area, offer to assess that person’s kinship care assistance needs under this Part.
(2) A person falling within section 71(3) in a local authority’s area, may apply to the authority to request—
(a) an assessment of their kinship care assistance needs,
(b) a review of an existing assessment.
(3) Where a person has made an application under subsection (2), the assessment or review must be carried out no later than three months after the application was received.”.
(3) In section 73(3), after paragraph (c) insert—
“(ca) when or how a local authority is to assess a person’s kinship care assistance needs,
(cb) when or how a local authority is to review an assessment of a person’s kinship care assistance needs,”.
(4) The Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 is amended by subsection (5).
(5) In section 4 (provisions relating to performance of functions by local authorities), after “Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (asp 1)” insert “or section 71A of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 2014”.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2026/16/section/17 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/children-care-care-experience-and-services-planning-scotland-act-2026/section-17
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.