Reflecting on 20 years of GIRFEC within Scotland’s Third Sector

This year, Scotland celebrates the 20-year anniversary of Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC). This, says Hannah Priest, has provided Supporting the Third Sector Project an opportunity to reflect on the impact the approach has had on children, young people and families and the third sector organisations who support them.

GIRFEC sits at the heart of Scotland’s child-centred policy landscape aligning with national commitments to uphold children’s rights and prioritise early intervention and prevention to tackle child poverty.  Our latest paper brings together insights from the TSI Children’s Services Network, highlighting from their perspective what’s working well, where challenges remain, and what the third sector needs to strengthen GIRFEC over the next 20 years. 

What we heard: key strengths of GIRFEC Implementation 

Our paper highlights how GIRFEC is viewed as a catalyst for more holistic, rights based, wrap around support with the SHANARRI wellbeing indicators helping create a shared language across sectors, empowering children and their families to play an active role in shaping their own support. 

It has also led to greater recognition from other sectors of the third sector’s expertise and unique position in communities and ability to deliver flexible and relational support. By strengthening relationships across sectors, GIRFEC has provided a mandate for collaboration that has increased the third sector’s involvement in Child’s Plan meetings and strategic planning, ultimately supporting improved outcomes for children and families.  

Where challenges remain 

Despite progress, experiences of GIRFEC are inconsistent across Scotland. Smaller community-based third sector organisations are often excluded from GIRFEC-related strategic discussions, with statutory partners tending to engage mainly with larger national organisations. Partnership opportunities are frequently tied to funding or commissioning, meaning collaboration often ends when short-term funding does. 

Third sector interfaces also reported that, although they are consulted on local funding decisions, final choices are often not made collaboratively. A lack of shared systems, differing data collection methods and GDPR uncertainties continue to prevent meaningful alignment of insights, despite the third sector holding rich qualitative data about families in their communities.  

Looking ahead 

When asked our third sector colleagues to consider what they need to further implement and realise the vision of GIRFEC over the next 20 years. They highlighted the need for:  

• Sustained, multi-year funding that reflects GIRFEC ambitions 
• Clearer national communication on the value of the third sector 
• Updated training and development particularly for the workforce who were not part of GIRFEC’s original rollout  
• Stronger collaborative processes for data sharing and local planning  
• Greater consistency across local authorities in applying GIRFEC principles. 

Across all areas highlighted by third sector colleagues, there was agreement that the Scottish Government should harness the opportunity presented by the 20th anniversary of GIRFEC to renew its commitment to the third sector and its key role in the delivery of wrap-around support for children and families. 

You can read the full report here.