# Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Act 2026, Section 48: Timescale for determination of application to sheriff

Extent: S
Status: prospective

(1) The Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 is amended as follows.
(2) In section 101 (hearing of application), for subsection (2) substitute—
“(2) The application must—
(a) begin to be heard not later than 28 days after the day on which the application is made, and
(b) be determined not later than 90 days after the day on which the application is made.
(2A) But the sheriff may, if satisfied after having regard to the best interests of the child that it is reasonable in the circumstances of the case to do so, allow the application—
(a) to begin to be heard later than mentioned in subsection (2)(a), or
(b) to be determined later than mentioned in subsection (2)(b).”.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2026/16/section/48 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/children-care-care-experience-and-services-planning-scotland-act-2026/section-48
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.