Rights of children and young persons: compliance report (April 2023 to September 2025)

In Wales we have a long tradition of supporting children’s rights. We were the first UK nation to appoint a Children’s Commissioner. We were also the first to enshrine the UNCRC into law in the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011.

Under the Measure, Welsh Government must report on how we have met our duty under section 1. Section 1 says we must have due regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and its Optional Protocols. 

The Children’s Rights Scheme sets out how we will meet this duty. We have committed to reporting every two and a half years. 

I am pleased to publish this latest report and take this opportunity to look back at some of the excellent work over this reporting period. All Cabinet members are focussed on delivering changes that will make our children’s lives better. 

We’ve expanded Flying Start childcare provision for 2-year-olds. Since 2023 more than 10,000 children have benefitted, exceeding the original target of 9,500 additional children. 

We have rolled out Universal Primary Free School Meals for primary age pupils across Wales recently reaching the milestone of serving up over 55 million free meals. Wales is still the only UK nation to provide a free healthy meal for every primary learner. 

Our £1 young person’s bus fare pilot will make a real difference for 16 to 21 years old and to 5 to 15 year olds from November 2025. It can be used for education, work and leisure. The scheme is already proving to be a success with over 246,000 journeys made by young people taking advantage of the cheaper fares.

We passed the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025 becoming the first UK nation to legislate to end profit in children’s residential and foster care. 

Our Mental Health and Suicide and Self-Harm Prevention Strategies 2025 - 2035 recognise the impact poor mental health can have on children. We will focus on early intervention, our whole school approach and support for vulnerable groups of children. 

In all these areas, and as you will see within the case studies in this report, we aim to ensure the rights of all children are recognised, respected, and fulfilled. 

We want a Wales for all children; a wonderful place to grow up, live and to work, now and in the future. This is our ambition for the children of Wales.

Dawn Bowden MS

Minister for Children and Social Care

Who is this report for?

This report is for anyone interested in children’s rights and the work of the Welsh Government . 

Important information about this report:

• In this report children means any person aged 0-18 years old.
• Any words highlighted in bold are explained in the ‘glossary of terms’ on page 28.
• On the web version of this report, you can click on information underlined in blue. This will take you to relevant resources, guidance or a webpage.
• This report uses the type of words that are often used in schools with children aged 11 and above. We tested this document’s accessibility using the Hemmingway App Editor. A score of 10 is good, and anything less is better. Some sections score as low as 8. Other more technical parts score 12. This document scores an average of 9.
• If you want to read this report in a different language scroll to the bottom of the webpage and click on ‘Alternative Languages.’ Click on the language you want to read this report in. 

What is the Children’s Rights Compliance Report? 

The Children’s Rights Scheme says the Welsh Government must write a report to explain how they have paid due regard to children's rights. This is called a 'compliance report'.

The Welsh Government publishes their compliance report on children's rights every two and a half years. This compliance report covers work that has taken place between April 2023 – September 2025. 

This report uses the same principled structure used by the Children’s Commissioner for Wales in their The Right Way: A Children’s Rights Approach.

The report includes sections on:

1. Embedding Children’s Rights

2. Equality and Non-Discrimination

3. Empowering Children

4. Participation

5. Accountability

What is the UNCRC?

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is a legal agreement that sets out the rights of every child aged 0-18 years. All children have rights, no matter the colour of their skin, gender, religious beliefs, sexuality, ability, language they speak or anything else. 

The UNCRC sets out what governments must do to ensure children know their rights and can exercise them. This means working together to give children the basic things they need to grow, be safe, be healthy, be heard and to reach their full potential. 

What is the Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011? 

In 2011 the Welsh Government introduced the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 (named in this report as ‘the Measure’). 

Section 1(1) of The Measure places duties on Welsh Ministers:

• to have due regard to the Part 1of the UNCRC and its parts of its Optional Protocols when making decisions; and

Section 5 of the Measure places duties on Welsh Ministers:

• to promote knowledge and understanding of Part 1 of the UNCRC and parts of its Optional Protocols to the public (including children and young people).

These duties mean that Welsh Ministers must consider children’s rights in everything they do that affects children. They must also think about the decisions they make that affect all people and not only children. This includes the environment, the economy, Welsh language and culture. And the long-term benefits that improve life for people now and in the future in line with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

What is the Children’s Rights Scheme?

Section 2(1) of the Measure says that the Welsh Government must say what they will do to meet their duties in the Measure. We have done this in the Welsh Government’s Children’s Rights Scheme.

The Scheme supports:

• High quality policy making to improve the lives of children and young people.
• Children to take part in the development of policies that affect them; and
• Children to exercise their rights.

Who are the Children and Young People’s Rights Branch?

Children and Young People’s Rights Branch in the Welsh Government make sure that the plans set out in the Scheme happen.

This means:

• Helping people who work in the Welsh Government to understand what children's rights are and how their work could affect those rights.
• Leading on the Welsh Government’s response to UNCRC reports and their Concluding Observations Recommendations.
• Creating a Compliance Report, like this one.
• Helping the people who work in the Welsh Government to complete Children’s Rights Impact Assessments (CRIAs). CRIAs provide evidence of how teams consider the UNCRC when they make decisions.
• Making sure there are opportunities for children to take part in policymaking. The Children and Young People’s Rights Branch do this by funding Children in Wales to work with children.
• Working with a group of experts to make sure the Government makes the best policy and decisions it can. This group is called the ‘Children's Rights Advisory Group’ or CRAG.
• Being the main contact between the Welsh Government and the Children's Commissioner for Wales. 

What does raising awareness of Children’s Rights mean?

In line with the Measure and Article 42 of the UNCRC, Welsh Ministers must tell people about children’s rights and help them understand them. Adults knowing about children’s rights means they can help children to access them.

We published a Raising Awareness of Children's Rights Plan to say how we would tell people about children’s rights. It covered: 

• Children and young people.
• Early years.
• Education.
• The public sector.
• Parents and carers.

In March 2025, the Minister for Children and Social Care published a Written Statement about how we tell people about children’s rights. She also published a version for children. 

Some of the work we have done is:

• Getting more people to join Young Wales. Young Wales tells Welsh Government what young people think about our work and how to make it better.
• We support The Right Way, helping to make sure children’s rights are thought about in plans and practice.
• We published the Early Childhood Play, Learning and Care Plan. The plan included information on how to support babies and toddlers rights.
• Human rights are part of the new Welsh curriculum.
• We developed training for adults on the UNCRC and the UNCRPD.
• We’ve told people that physically punishing children is illegal in Wales. This supports children’s right to live free from violence.
• We’ve provided training and resources for adults so they can teach children the physical punishment of children is illegal in Wales.
• Parenting. Give it time tells parents about children’s rights and how to help their children to access them.
• We’ve developed ‘A Wales for all Children’ with the Children’s Commissioner. This is a joint approach to raising awareness of children’s rights. 

Our Written Statement in May 2025 was about Welsh Ministers speaking with children. This was part of the Raising Awareness Plan. Talking to children helps Welsh Ministers understand what is important them. It gives us information to do our work better. Ministers speak to children at events like the Royal Welsh Show, National Eisteddfod, the Care Summit and Youth COP. Ministers also meet Young Wales members and other children as part of their everyday work.

What is Embedding?

The measure places a duty on Welsh Ministers to have due regard to the UNCRC when developing or reviewing legislation and policy. This means that Welsh Ministers must give the appropriate weight to the requirements of the UNCRC, balancing them against all the other factors that are relevant to the decision in question.

The Welsh Government should work together, and with others to make children's rights real. This means using the UNCRC to make sure decisions improve children's lives. 

It should be clear that children’s rights have been considered when decisions are made. 

How are children’s rights embedded in the Welsh Government?

• Making it clear how plans and polices link to the UNCRC.
• Making sure Welsh Ministers and officials have a good knowledge of children’s rights.
• Making it clear how putting children’s rights at the core of decisions improves Government’s work.
• Making sure people who make decisions about children have training on the UNCRC.
• Making sure there is a team who are responsible for children’s rights in the Welsh Government.
• Making sure the resources needed to support and promote children’s rights are available. 

What actions have Welsh Government taken to embed children’s rights?

• We provided an update on the Children and Young People’s Plan. The Plan explains what the Welsh Government will do to support children and young people in Wales.
• We developed a Child Poverty Strategy monitoring framework. It shows our approach to monitoring and demonstrating our progress on addressing child poverty.
• We provide help to policy teams when they produce a Children’s Rights Impact Assessment. We ask them to consider how their proposal addresses the relevant recommendations in the UN Concluding Observations Report 2023.
• We continue to work with the Children’s Rights Advisory Group. They provide policy teams with advice on their CRIAs.
• We continue to raise awareness of children’s rights with Welsh Government staff. This includes telling them about children’s rights training and a staff manual on how to embed children’s rights in their work.
• We’ve joined the Children’s Commissioner in ‘A Wales for all Children’, an aligned approach to children’s rights communications.

Case study 1: Mental Health and Wellbeing and Suicide and Self Harm Prevention Strategies – young people engagement

In 2025, the Welsh Government made two big plans to help people with their mental health. These were:

• The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy
• The Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Strategy

To make sure these plans were fair and respected children’s rights, we did a Children’s Rights Impact Assessment. This means we checked the plans against important rights like being treated fairly (non-discrimination), having a say (right to be heard), and getting good health care (right to health). 

Over 400 children and young people helped shape these plans. They were involved in many ways:

• They helped write early versions of the plans.
• They joined fun workshops and filled out surveys made just for young people.
• They read special versions of the plans written in simple language.
• Trusted adults helped run safe activities so young people could share their thoughts.
• Young people helped create story characters to show how the plans could help.
• Ministers talked to the Welsh Youth Parliament.
• After the plans were finished, the government told young people how their ideas were used.

Young people said it was important to make sure everyone is treated fairly and to use kind and respectful words. They didn’t want anyone to feel judged or left out. Because of this, the plans now promise to make places safe and welcoming for everyone and include people from all backgrounds - like different cultures, genders and abilities. 

They also said help should be easy to get for all ages, including babies, children, and teenagers. The plans now say that there should be no wrong door which means anyone asking for help should be supported and help should come early and be kind and understanding.

Young people wanted to make sure their voices keep being heard. So, the plans include ways for them to keep sharing ideas in the future.

The government also made sure to include voices that are often missed—like young people in hospital, those without homes, Welsh speakers, and young parents.

Thanks to young people’s ideas, the plans are now fairer and kinder. They help make sure every child in Wales gets the right support, at the right time, in the right way.

Case study 2: Removing profit from the care of children looked after

Welsh Ministers want to stop children’s homes and fostering services from making money from looking after children in care. This is called ‘removing profit from the care of children looked after’.

We passed the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act in 2025. Starting from 1 April 2026, the new law will begin. This law means that children’s homes and fostering services will not be allowed to make a profit.

We want all the money spent on caring for children in Wales to be used just for that. Removing profit means more money can go to helping children.

We are also making these changes because some children in care have asked for it. They think it is wrong for businesses to make money from looking after them.

The current system costs a lot and does not always give children the care they need, where they need it. This change will make things better for children in the future by improving the care we can give to them.

We want to minimise any disruption to children so different parts of the law will come into effect at different times:

• From 1 April 2026 - No new children’s home and fostering services will be allowed to register if they want to make a profit.
• From 1 April 2027 - For-profit children’s home and fostering services will not be allowed to grow their businesses.
• From 1 April 2030 (or earlier) - Children will stop being placed with children’s home and fostering services that make a profit.

We are also working on other things to help children including making sure everyone who helps children works together; finding more foster carers in Wales and making sure there are enough good children’s homes.

Case study 3: Professional Learning Programme for the UNCRC and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD)

The Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021 is a law that helps make children’s rights part of education in Wales. Section 64 says that people who plan and deliver the curriculum must help others understand children’s rights.

To support this, we created a Professional Learning programme. It helps teachers and other staff learn about children’s rights. It also shows how to include rights in lessons and school life. The goal is to help schools become places where children’s rights are part of everyday learning.

Embedding means putting rights at the centre of planning, teaching, and decision-making. The PL programme encourages staff to think about rights in everything they do. It gives ideas for how to include rights in lessons, listen to children’s views, and make sure children feel safe and respected.

There are two learning modules already available on Hwb:

1. Promoting knowledge and understanding of children's human rights explains what the UNCRC and UNCRPD are and why they matter.
2. Children’s human rights in Curriculum for Wales shows how rights can be part of lessons, planning, and school culture.

A third module is being developed. It will share real examples from schools in Wales. These examples will help staff learn from each other and improve their work.

This work is important because when adults understand children’s rights, they can help children understand their own rights too. This can help children feel more confident, included, and able to speak up when something isn’t fair. The Professional Learning programme helps schools meet their legal duties and make children’s rights part of real life in education.

What is Equality and Non-Discrimination?

No child should be prevented from claiming their rights because of discrimination.

Equality is making sure that every child has an equal opportunity to be healthy, safe and the best that they can be. 

Equality means treating all children fairly, whatever their home life, ability, race, or gender.

Equality means making sure children’s individual needs are met so that they have equal chances to others to fulfil their potential. 

Non-discrimination is a right under the UNCRC (Article 2). Adults should understand the barriers children face when accessing services. Adults should also understand that children are often discriminated against because of their age. When adults recognise this, action can be taken to tackle the discrimination. 

Adults should understand that decisions taken today can discriminate against future generations of children.

How is equality and non-discrimination embedded in the Welsh Government?

• Setting out clear ways to promote equality and tackle discrimination against children in policies and plans.
• Making sure people who work in the Welsh Government have up-to-date knowledge of the Equality Act 2010. This includes regular training about the needs of different groups of children.
• Understanding the needs of particular groups of children to make better decisions.
• Providing information to children in a language or format appropriate to their needs. For example, their age. 

What action has Welsh Government taken to promote equality and non-discrimination? 

• We have reviewed the School Holiday Enrichment Programme. The review recommended that we continue to expand the programme. This is to ensure greater fairness and inclusion for all children. This includes learners who are disadvantaged, looked after, and have additional learning needs or are asylum seekers.
• We have set out a plan of action on how to make Wales a Nation of Sanctuary. This plan embeds clear targets and actions. It sets out how to make Wales a place where people who come to restart and resettle are guaranteed their rights to be safe and free from discrimination. We published a progress report in 2024 which sets out our progress in meeting the commitments in the plan.
• We have published Celebrate and Participate: Education Guidance. It helps teachers and education workers to support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller learners. Its shows how to improve access to education, nurture talent, and help every learner reach their full potential.
• We are supporting the mental health and wellbeing of babies and young children through the NYTH/NEST framework. This supports services that work with children of all ages And we are hosting events with baby experts and supporting training on baby mental health.
• We are continuing to make progress on our plan to make Wales the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe, but we know there is much more to do.
• We are continuing to expand our Flying Start Programme for 2- to 3-year-olds. 10,000 children have benefitted, exceeding our targets. 

Case study 4: Disability Rights Taskforce – children and young people working group

In 2021, a report called Locked Out showed that life isn’t always fair for disabled children and adults in Wales. To help fix this, the Welsh Government and disabled people in Wales decided to work together. We called this team the Disability Rights Taskforce. 

We wanted to hear what disabled children and adults thought would make life better. So, people from lots of different communities and people who work for the government joined together. Disabled people were leaders in the team too. They talked about their lives and what would help remove the problems they face every day. We also talked about the Social Model of Disability. This means focusing on removing barriers in our communities, so disabled people can fully take part.

We split into small groups to talk about important issues. Like helping everyone to understand how hard going to school is, travelling around, and getting jobs. These groups listened to disabled people’s ideas about how to make things fairer. A young person led the group for disabled children and young people.

To learn more, we worked with schools and with Young Wales to ask children what would help them most. Children and young people shared their ideas with stories and pictures. There was also a group for parents and carers to talk about what government needed to do to make life fairer for disabled children.

Everyone worked together to come up with good ideas. These ideas became part of the draft Disabled Peoples Rights Plan. The plan aims to make sure disabled children and adults have the same rights as everyone else and can live happy lives in Wales.

To make sure everyone could understand it we shared the plan with people in different ways. Including in easy read, sign language, audio, braille, and in both Welsh and English.

Disabled children and adults told us what they thought of the plan, and they helped us make it better. 

This work is making a real difference because disabled children helped shape the plan. Their ideas and rights are guiding the government on what to do next. The plan says no one should be treated differently because of who they are, everyone should be treated fairly, and no one should be left out. 

Case study 5: Inclusion of youth work into the refreshed Anti-racist Wales Action Plan

The Anti-racist Wales Action Plan or (ArWAP) first launched in June 2022. It sets out a clear goal: to make Wales a truly anti-racist country. A refreshed version of the plan was released in November 2024, and it strengthens this commitment.

The updated plan includes a new goal for Youth Work. This sits within the Education and Welsh Language chapter. The goal is to promote equality, inclusion, and diversity in youth work services and to help youth workers challenge discrimination in society.

Youth work plays a key role in helping young people deal with racism. The new goal and its actions reflect this.

In 2021, the Interim Youth Work Board for Wales published its final report: Time to Deliver: achieving a sustainable delivery model for youth work services in Wales. It made 14 recommendations. One of these was for Welsh Government and the youth work sector to work together to improve access to youth work services and youth work and challenge harmful attitudes and behaviours.

There has been good progress toward the new goal. One example is the Call for Case Studies, which asked youth organisations across Wales to share their work. These case studies show how youth work can create inclusive spaces for all young people, challenge discrimination like racism, homophobia, sexism, and ableism, support youth-led projects and co-production and show real impact on young people’s confidence, identity, and attitudes.

We will be working with DARPL (Diversity and Anti-racist Professional Learning) to develop the DARPL Youthwork Aspect. This will help youth workers across Wales build skills in equality, inclusion, and diversity.

We also fund several organisations to support and raise the voices of ethnic minority young people:

• Ethnic Minorities Youth Support Team runs programmes in education, jobs, health, safety, and community.
• Race Council Cymru hosts events like Black History 365 and the National Black History Wales Youth Awards.

The ArWAP External Accountability Group has appointed a Community Specialist Advisor. This person has experience in youth work and empowering young people. Their role is to make sure young people’s voices are heard across Welsh Government.

Case study 6: Healthy eating in schools

We have led the way in providing Universal Primary Free School Meals for all primary age pupils across Wales, recently reaching the milestone of serving up over 55 million free meals. This helps fight child poverty and hunger, supports learning, and improves children's health. we also provide free and subsidised school milk, free breakfasts for primary pupils and free school meals for secondary pupils who need them the most. 

We want to make sure school food is the best it can be. To do this, the government is updating the rules and guidance based on the latest advice about healthy eating. We want to help children build healthy eating habits, make better food choices and learn to make better food decisions.

From May to July 2025, a consultation was held to hear what people think about the proposed changes. To make sure everyone could take part, the government provided an easy read version, a children and young people’s version and a video in British Sign language. 

Almost 1,000 children and young people took part. There were also 10 focus groups in primary and secondary schools with pupils from different backgrounds. These focus groups gave us feedback from a wide range of children from different parts of Wales.

Children and young people shared their views on a range of ideas. Many supported having more fruit, vegetables, and starchy foods like bread and pasta.

They agreed with changes to meat, red meat, and fish, and reducing processed meats, fried foods, desserts, and pastries. Some did not agree with the changes to drinks. They preferred soft drinks and squash over plain water or plant-based drinks. Many said portion sizes should be bigger as they often feel hungry after school meals.

The consultation worked well and gave children and young people a chance to share their views. Their feedback will help shape the final changes to the school food rules before they become law.

What is Empowerment?

Children’s rights should empower children. Empowerment means making sure children have information about their rights and know how to claim them. 

Empowerment changes the relationship between children as rights-holders and adults making decisions. Empowerment means adults sharing power with children to make decisions together. This helps children have better control over what happens in their lives. 

Adults who understand children’s rights and why they are important can better support children to take part in shaping decisions that affect them. Children who know about their rights, can better hold the adults’ making decisions about their lives to account.

How is empowerment embedded in the Welsh Government?

• Giving information to people to increase their understanding about children’s rights.
• Removing barriers to the things people need to understand and use children’s rights.
• Promoting all children’s right to be involved in, and listened to, when decisions are made that affect them.
• Making sure children have the information they need to take part in decisions. For example, creating documents that are easily understood and appropriate to a person’s age. This means being clear about opportunities, so children can choose if they want to be involved.
• Making sure children can scrutinise decisions made about them. This means having opportunities to ask questions to adults making decisions and hold them to account. 

What actions have the Welsh Government taken to make sure children feel empowered? 

• We have banned single-use vapes in Wales. We know children and young people care about the environment, so we created an online survey to get their views on our plans. We created a short video and infographic to give children and young people clear and accurate facts about how single-use vapes harm health and the environment.
• We updated the Guidance on spotting young people at risk of leaving education or training or becoming homeless. It stresses involving children and young people by asking for their views, considering them, and giving feedback.
• We asked children to help make easy to read versions of the UN Report and our response.
• We shared an infographic showing how we promote children's rights to children, their families, and those who work with them. 

Case study 7: Co-producing the Welsh Government's Budget Improvement Plan animation and leaflet

The 2022 Budget Improvement Plan was a large document packed with spreadsheets. It outlined what Welsh Treasury’s wanted to do over five-years to improve our budget processes. We recognised the document wasn’t easy for young people to understand.

In the past, Welsh Government staff had written children’s versions of the plan. We wanted real change and for young people to work with us to produce the version for young people.

Welsh Treasury partnered with a Young Wales Project Board. The project began by teaching the young volunteers about budgets. Sessions covered Welsh taxes, spending, fiscal analysis, infrastructure planning, and climate issues.

We adapted our work patterns to make this possible. We held meetings outside office hours so the volunteers didn’t miss school. We used government offices on weekends so young people could spend full days working on the project. They developed storyboards and animations with design staff. We also used a residential weekend and combined outdoor activities with budget workshops.

The team made one thing clear: the leaflet and the animation must reflect what the young volunteers’ wanted. Their feedback shaped the project. When shown sunny images of detached houses, they said: “That’s not Wales - we want wind and rain.” They moved characters around and suggested social media platforms for distribution. The volunteers made over 100 voice recordings to create a bilingual animation.

The volunteers created four main characters to represent key Budget Plan themes including Coin for Welsh Taxes, Digger for Infrastructure, Mr Money Bags for Engagement and Spending and Daffodil for Fiscal and Economic Analysis.

The volunteers and the Welsh Government staff presented their work to Rebecca Evans MS, then Minister for Finance and Local Government and to Senedd Committee Chairs.

This project empowered children by creating accessible information, removing barriers to understanding, meaningful participation, accountability, and genuine ownership.

Case study 8: Ending physical punishment – e-learning resources for practitioners working with children

In Wales, we want every child to grow up knowing their rights. We want them to feel safe, speak up, and be listened to. One way we’ve done this is by changing the law to protect children from physical punishment.

Since 21 March 2022, it has been against the law to physically punish children in Wales. The law gives children the same protection from assault as adults. It supports Article 19 of the UNCRC, which says children must be protected from all forms of violence.

The law is clear and easy to understand. Physical punishment of children is illegal in Wales.

We wanted to help people that work with children to understand the law and talk about it with confidence. Adults knowing about the law means they can help protect children from harm. 

We worked with Children in Wales to create an e-learning resource .

It covers: 

• What the law means.
• The role of professionals who work with children.
• How to understand and respond to parents’ concerns
• How to explain the law to children and young people
• Where to find more help and resources

We also created communication guidance. It helps people working with children to talk to them about the law in a positive and age-appropriate way. It would also help them to respond when children share concerns.

The guidance encourages adults to give children space to ask questions, listen to their views and help them understand how decisions affect them.

Children in Wales led this work for Welsh Government. They worked with schools, councils, charities, and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. They also spoke to children and young people from different ages and backgrounds.

Adults asked for clear and sensitive materials that suit different ages. They suggested using visuals, structured training, FAQs, and school-based platforms. They also wanted content that reflected different cultures. 

Children wanted fun and creative tools like games, posters, and digital content. They liked simple messages, flexible activities, and chances to give feedback.

These ideas helped shape the resources. This made sure the information is clear, useful, and empowering for young people.

Case study 9: Young Wales’s Big Conversation

The Big Conversation is a project run by Young Wales and funded by Welsh Government. It helps young people across Wales to talk about the things that matter to them. It helps them share their views, take part in activities and events, and gives them a chance to tell Welsh ministers what young people say and how it makes a difference. 

In 2024, Young Wales held events in different parts of Wales called ‘The Big Conversation’. These happened in places like Blaenau Gwent, Powys and Pembrokeshire. Young people from youth groups, the Eisteddfod and schools joined in. Over one hundred young people aged 11 to 25 took part. They talked about important issues like mental health and climate change. 

The Big Conversation carried on at the Young Wales Festival. Over 150 people attended. There were group discussions, workshops, performances, and talks from experts. Young people led the sessions. They talked about subjects like education and training, mental, LGBTQ+, social justice, climate change and feeling safe online. 

They used what they had discussed to write questions for Ministers.

Young people shared their questions with Welsh Government Ministers:

• Forty-five young people met Dawn Bowden MS, Minister for Children and Social Care, at a residential event in North Wales in February 2025. They talked about opportunities for young people in rural Wales, and support for young carers.
• Twenty young people met Sarah Murphy MS, Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing. They talked about getting better mental health support in schools.
• Twenty-two young people took part in a Social Justice and Climate Change session, and eleven young people joined the LGBTQ+ group sessions. They met Jane Hutt MS, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip. They talked about the cost-of-living and help for asylum seekers and refugees. They also talked about support for LGBTQ+ young people in rural areas. 

These events help young people speak directly to Welsh Ministers. In May 2025, we wrote a Written Statement about ways we speak to children and young people.

What is Participation?

All children have the right to shape decisions that affect them, their families, and the communities they live in. Participation means listening to children when decisions are made that affect their lives. 

Children should have all the information they need to understand what decisions are being made. Children should know when decisions are being made that affect them and should be given opportunities to be involved in those decisions. 

Opportunities to shape decisions should be offered in ways that are appropriate to children's age and maturity. Being young or relatively immature is no reason for discounting children’s opinions, or for giving them less attention in decision-making processes. 

Participation should be a safe, enabling, and inclusive process. Participation should support conversations between children and adults working with them. 

How is participation embedded in the Welsh Government?

• Identifying gaps and opportunities where participation should happen across the Welsh Government.
• Involving children in the planning and design of services.
• Removing the things that stop children participating. For example, information that is hard to understand, transport, language.
• Giving extra support to children who need it.
• Learning about how other organisations do this well.
• Developing clear targets to listen to children who may not always be heard.
• Including children when staff are recruited who have responsibilities that impact on them.
• Giving feedback to children. This means telling them how they their views have been taken into account.
• Adopting the National Participation Standards.

What actions have the Welsh Government taken to make sure children feel listened to?

• We put resources on Hwb the website for learning in Wales. These include special Children’s Rights leaflets. The leaflets explain babies and young children’s rights in simple words and pictures so that everyone can understand them.
• We introduced a Basic Income Pilot for Care Leavers in Wales. We made sure to get the views of young people before it started so we could make better rules. We also made easy read guides with the help young people, using animations and written guides. Young people have shared their ideas about the evaluation and helped with survey questions and interview topics. Partners like Children in Wales also made resources to help young people after the pilot with things like housing support and how to manage their money.
• We gave local authorities extra funding to improve play spaces. This includes refurbishing playgrounds and making sure all children can use them. We asked them to speak to children about play spaces in their areas.
• We continue to fund the Young Wales Programme. Since April 2023, more than two hundred children have been part of Young Wales. They have helped with forty Welsh Government consultations, helped shape laws and policies on areas like single-use vapes, food in schools, learner travel, INSET days and many more. They have met at eight residential weekends in different parts of Wales so that children and young people from all areas can take part in-person.
• Through Young Wales, we funded eleven children and young people’s advisory boards during this period. This includes representation of children and young people with lived experience of specific issues, such as Young Carers. And those with Additional Learning Needs, mental health and wellbeing, and education and training for 16-25 year olds. These groups have worked with Welsh Government to shape the long-term design of policies in that area.

Case study 10 – Play Sufficiency Assessments – What children say about play in Wales 

In 2010, we became the first government to pass a law protecting children’s right to play. The Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 places a duty on local authorities to make sure children can play in their communities. This is called the Play Sufficiency Duty.

Under this duty, councils must carry out full play sufficiency assessments every three years and create annual action plans to improve play opportunities. 

In January 2025, we worked with our partners to update the Wales – A Play Friendly Country statutory guidance. The new version includes a stronger focus on consulting with children, listening to their views and making sure what they say helps shape decisions. 

The guidance points to two key frameworks:

• National Participation Standards
• The Right Way Framework, developed by the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and the Wales Observatory

These frameworks help public bodies put children’s rights at the heart of their work, based on the UNCRC.

We also refreshed the Play Sufficiency Assessment Toolkit and it now includes tools to help councils engage with children and young people in meaningful ways.

Over 8,000 children took part in surveys for the 2025 Play Sufficiency Assessments. Their feedback shows children want more free time and more chances to play, they want adults to be less grumpy about children playing and having fun and they want more freedom to play outside with friends. 

However, disabled children reported lower satisfaction:

• 37% said they rarely or never play outside their homes.
• 23% said they don’t feel safe when playing or hanging out with friends.

The report What Children say about play in Wales: 2025 based on children’s responses was published in October 2025. This report will help shape future Play Action Plans and Play Policy in Wales, making sure children’s voices lead the way.

Case study 11: Care Experienced Annual Summits 

In 2025, we worked with Voices from Care Cymru to organise the fourth Care Experienced Summit. The Summit is a special event where care-experienced children and young people meet Welsh Ministers.

These Summits have not been held in the UK before. They are all about making sure children and young people’s voices are heard. Whether children and young people are in care or have left care, they can share their experiences, ideas, and hopes for the future with the people who make decisions. At these events the children and young people choose what they talk about and get to ask the questions and say what they think. This helps Welsh Ministers understand what it’s like to be in care and what matters to children and young people, not what adults think matters to them. This means they can make better decisions about services for children.

After the first Summit children and young people and the Welsh Ministers wrote a declaration. It was first signed in 2023 by the First Minister at the time, Mark Drakeford MS. What makes it special is it was created by young people and Ministers working together. It includes a vision for the future and shows how important children and young people’s views are in making changes. 

During last year’s summit, children and young people talked about a number of areas with Ministers. Some examples were:

• Providing more information on their foster care placements such as information on the foster parents, the home and pets.
• The stigma felt by young people when social workers come into school during school hours to see young people or hold their review meetings.

Following the Summit, Ministers wrote to the local authorities to share what children and young people talked to them about, which also fed into the declaration. At this year’s summit, the children and young people met with five Ministers from the Welsh Government. They were:

• Cabinet Secretary for Education.
• Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language.
• Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefyndd and Chief Whip.
• Minister for Children and Social Care.
• Minister for Mental Health and Well-being.

Case study 12: Additional Learning Needs Ambassador Programme

The Additional Learning Needs (ALN) system supports children and young people aged 0–25 in Wales who need help to learn. It aims is to make sure children and young people receive the right support at the right time to reach their potential and can fully take part in learning. 

Under the ALN system, children and young people with ALN will usually get an Individual Development Plan. This will say what help they need.

It can be more difficult for children with ALN to have their voice heard. We set up the Additional Learning Needs Ambassador Programme in 2023 so that children and young people with ALN could tell us about their experiences. We wanted them to help us to see if the new system met their needs. The programme meant learners with ALN could influence decisions about their education. They played an important role in helping us test if the system was working.

We asked Children in Wales to set up a Wales-wide ALN Children and Young People Participation Group. The group was for children and young people to tell us about their experiences of the ALN system, especially when the new system was starting. Up until April 2025, 36 sessions with 33 children have been held. They told us about their school, themselves in their school, and how they think about their future. Their views informed our policy and the planning of services for them in their local authorities. 

The programme meant children and young people with ALN were supported to have their voices heard, in line with their rights under the ALN Code. It also helped us to embed children’s rights principles in the ALN Code. Their views were part of our evaluation of ALN reforms and will help us make the system better.

What is Accountability?

People who have a duty to help children claim their rights must be accountable. This means showing how and why decisions that affect children have been made the way they have. 

To be accountable, there must be ways of checking how well decisions support children’s rights. This includes finding ways to change and improve if decisions have negative impacts on children’s rights. 

To do this well, decision-makers must be honest and provide reasons for their decisions and actions. 

To claim their rights, children must know they have them. Children should also know when they aren't able to claim their rights, and how to make a complaint or challenge decisions and actions. 

How is accountability embedded in the Welsh Government? 

• Giving children information on how they can ask questions and challenge decision-makers.
• Making children aware of their rights. This means giving them information to understand the responsibilities and obligations of duty bearers.
• Using Children’s Rights Impact Assessments to consider how decisions affect children’s rights.
• Making sure staff understand their responsibilities and obligations to children.
• Publishing updates showing how we’ve worked towards making rights a reality.
• Feeding back regularly to children.
• Providing children with accessible information about how to make complaints or hold staff to account.

What actions has Welsh Government taken to make sure they are accountable for their work on children's rights? 

• We produce Children’s Rights Compliance Reports like this one, every two and a half years since the Measure was introduced.
• We worked with the Children’s Rights Advisory Group who advised policy teams on 13 draft CRIAs. These included advice on the Mental health and wellbeing strategy, the Suicide prevention and self-harm strategy, and the Visitor Accommodation (Register and Levy) Etc. (Wales) Act 2025. You can read published CRIAs here.
• We published the Welsh Government Response to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s Concluding Observations Report. We involved stakeholders and children to help us with the response. We are intending to publish updates on our progress throughout the current UN reporting period.
• Young Wales produced an evidence report to the UN Committee. We helped fund the Young Wales volunteers to go to Geneva to give evidence to the Committee. They told the Committee about their report and said what they thought needed to happen in Wales. We provided extra funding so they could go to Geneva to watch the UK State Party Review. This helped them to understand how they contributed to the process and learn how the UN works for them in practice.
• We have responded to the Children’s Commissioner for Wales’s Annual Report, which they publish every year The First Minister’s response reaffirms the Welsh Government’s commitment to children’s rights. It emphasises how we will collaborate with the Commissioner and partners to ensure that recommendations are acted upon.
• We asked children and young people about their awareness and knowledge of children rights in the Beaufort Omnibus Survey in September 2025. Nearly all those asked were aware they had rights. 

Case study 13: Early Childhood Play, Learning and Care - care plan and annual update 

The Early Childhood Play, Learning and Care Plan, (ECPLC) published in 2024, shows how we can help every baby and young child in Wales have the best start in life. It focuses on play, which is how babies and young children learn, grow, and have fun.

We make an annual infographic to clearly show what we have been doing, what we will continue to do and what we will do until May 2026. Families, those working in childcare and teachers can use it to see the progress being made.

We also put resources on Hwb, the website for learning in Wales. These include special Children’s Rights leaflets. The leaflets explain babies and young children’s rights in simple words and pictures so that everyone can understand them.

Telling families, carers and those working with babies and young children about their rights means they can help children grow up in play-rich, nurturing environments. The children’s rights leaflets make it easier for parents and carers to explain to babies and young children what their rights mean. 

Those working with babies and young children now have guides to help make learning fun and safe through play. Schools and nurseries can use the infographic and resources to plan activities and support babies and young children better. 

This work helps make children’s rights easier to understand. The leaflets and resources show babies and young children and families what they can expect. The ECPLC plan has clear steps and goals, so people who make decisions and work with babies and young children can support them better.

By sharing the plan, more people know about the ECPLC vision: that every baby and young child in Wales should grow up in a safe, playful, and caring place. Everyone can see how we are building a Wales where babies and young children’s rights are respected.

Case study 14: Improved bus fares for children and young people 

We have heard from children and young people that transport costs can stop them from participating in education, jobs, training, and fun activities. The Welsh Youth Parliament and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales asked us for more help. So, earlier this year, the Welsh Government announced plans for cheaper bus fares for those aged 16-21.

We introduced £1 fares for a single bus journey and a £3 limit for unlimited journeys in one day. To join the scheme, young people need to apply for a free My Travel Pass.

Almost every bus operator in Wales has joined the scheme, making it available throughout the country. The program started in September and has been a success. Over 32,000 young people have signed up for a My Travel Pass, and more than 246,000 journeys have been made.

After we announced plans for the scheme, young people asked us to extend it to those under 16 to make sure all children and young people were treated equally and could all benefit from cheaper fares. We listened and expanded the program to include 5-15 year-olds from November. They can now hop on a bus without needing a pass or applying for anything.

This scheme is a pilot and is due to end on 31 August 2026. We want to see if the scheme is well used by young people and has an impact on how they travel. It will be for the next government to decide whether the scheme will continue, but we will be evaluating the scheme to understand how successful it is. Children and young people will be included in the evaluation and asked to tell us how well the scheme is working.

This initiative came from the requests of children and young people and those who represent them. We listened and acted. We want to encourage young people to choose public transport over cars, making it more affordable for them.

Assault: Is when a person intentionally hurts someone. It means using force or violence against another person.

Asylum Seekers: An asylum seeker is someone who has had to leave their home country because it was not safe for them to live there anymore.

Audio: This means something you can hear. For example, an audio story is one you listen to instead of reading. 

Braille: This is a way of writing and reading using raised dots, so people can read words using their fingers. Each letter or number is made from a pattern of dots.

British Sign Language: This is a language that uses hand shapes, movements, and facial expressions instead of spoken words. 

Budget Improvement Plan: The Budget Improvement Plan sets out the Welsh Government’s five-year plan to improve the way it makes decisions about how money is spent.

Care Experienced: Care experienced means anyone who has lived in local authority or kinship care at any point in their life, including in foster care, children's homes, or with relatives or friends under a formal or informal arrangement.

Children’s Commissioner for Wales: Rocio Cifuentes is the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. They started in post in April 2022, and will be the Children’s Commissioner for seven years. Their job is to promote and protect children’s rights in Wales.

Children’s Human Rights Approach: 

• Embedding: Putting children’s rights at the centre of planning and delivering services.
• Equality and non-discrimination: ensuring that every child has an equal opportunity to be the best they can be.
• Empowering children: enhancing children’s capabilities so they are better able to take advantage of rights.
• Participation: listening to children and taking their views meaningfully into account
• Accountability: authorities should be responsible to children for decisions and actions that affect their lives 

Children’s Rights Impact Assessments (CRIAs): These are assessments used by the government to check how a decision, policy, or law affects children’s rights.

Children’s Rights Advisory Group: Is a group of experts that help the government make good decisions on children’s rights including giving on advice on CRIAs.

Children in Wales: Children in Wales is a national organisation that supports organisations and individuals who work with children, young people, and their families in Wales. 

Climate Change: Climate change is when the Earth’s weather starts to change in big ways. This happens because people are polluting the air, which makes the planet warmer.

Communication guidance: Provides advice or instructions to help adults speak to children in a clear, kind, and age-appropriate way.

Compliance: Compliance means meeting the rules or standards set. In this report, compliance means reporting on how we have paid due regard to children’s rights.

Consultation: Is when we ask people including children and young people what they think about something important, so everyone can help make better decisions together.

Cost-of-living: Cost of living is how much money people need to pay for things like food, clothes, homes, and travel.

Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021: A law that sets rules for what children learn in school and how their learning is planned and checked.

Declaration: A formal statement or an announcement.

Digital content: Digital content is information or tools that can be accessed on a computer, tablet, or phone such as videos, games, posters, or websites.

Due regard: How consideration is given to children’s rights when decisions are made by Welsh Government.

Duty Bearers: Along with the Government, all people who care for children and young people are duty bearers under the UNCRC. That means adults working with children have a responsibility to uphold children’s rights.

e-learning resource: An e-learning resource is an online tool or course designed to help people understand a topic. It may include videos, quizzes, and information.

Ethnic Minorities Youth Support Team: EYST aims to meet the needs of Black and Minority Ethic children and young people, families, and individuals. This includes refugees and asylum-seekers living in Wales. This includes challenging negative stereotypes about ethnic diversity and increasing awareness of diverse communities who live in Wales. 

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions or FAQs are a list of common questions about a topic, with simple answers to help people understand.

Fiscal Analysis: Is the process of examining how government money is collected and spent, and what impact that has on the economy.

Focus Groups: Are small groups of people who are asked to share their thoughts and ideas about something, so we can understand what different people think and make better decisions.

Free school meals: are government-funded meals provided at school to make sure eligible children have access to healthy food during the day.

Infrastructure Planning: Is the process of deciding what Wales needs including roads, buildings and housing and how to pay for them.

LGBTQ+: LGBTQIA+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or sometimes questioning), intersex, asexual, and others. The "plus" represents other sexual identities.

Welsh Ministers: Ministers are the Members of the Senedd (Parliament) who are in the Welsh Government. Ministers are appointed by the First Minister of Wales and have specific areas of Welsh Government policy to look after. Ministers speak on behalf of the Welsh Government in the Senedd and answer questions from Members.

Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy: Is a 10-year plan that aims to their wellbeing and improve outcomes for people accessing support for their mental health.

Nation of Sanctuary: Wales is aiming to become the world’s first ‘Nation of Sanctuary.’ Our vision is of a Wales wherever people seeking sanctuary go, they are met with welcome, understanding and celebration of their unique contribution to the rich tapestry of Welsh life.

The National Participation Standards: These are a set of rules that help adults make sure children and young people are listened to, involved in decisions, and treated with respect when sharing their views.

Optional Protocols: These set out extra requirements needed to address the changing needs of children. The Protocols were written after the UNCRC was adopted. and used to address new concerns about children. These are ‘optional’ because they are not automatically binding on the Governments which have signed up the to the UNCRC. If Governments want to adopt the protocols, they must sign up to them separately. 

In 2000, two optional protocols were added to the UNCRC: 

1. One asks governments to ensure children under the age of 18 are not forcibly recruited into their armed forces.
2. The second calls on states to prohibit child prostitution, child pornography and the sale of children into slavery. These have now been ratified by more than 120 states, including the countries within the United Kingdom.
3. A third optional protocol was added in 2011. This enables children whose rights have been violated to complain directly to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Physical punishment: Is when an adult uses physical force to try to discipline a child, such as smacking, hitting, or slapping.

Play sufficiency: Play Sufficiency means making sure all children have enough safe, fun, and free places and time to play in their local area.

Professional Learning: Training and learning for teachers and school staff to help them improve their practice.

Race Council Cymru: Race Council Cymru is a national organisation that supports organisations and individuals across Wales to combat prejudice and discrimination based on race. Race means the colour of a person’s skin or other physical feature. 

Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011: Is a law that makes the Welsh Ministers consider children’s rights in all their decisions and to promote knowledge and understanding of the UNCRC.

School-based platforms: are online systems or tools used in schools to share information, learning materials, or resources with pupils and staff.

School food rules: Are designed to make sure children get healthy, balanced meals at school by setting standards for what food and drink can be served.

Social Justice: Social justice means everyone is treated fairly and has the same chances in life, no matter who they are. It helps make sure people are not left out or treated unfairly because of things like their skin colour, gender, or where they come from.

Social Model of Disability: This is an idea that says people are disabled because there are things in the world that make it hard for them to join in. For example, if a building has only stairs and no ramp, someone who uses a wheelchair can’t get in. The Social Model says we should change things around us so everyone can get in or take part.

Scrutinise: scrutinise means to examine closely. In this report, when we talk about scrutiny, we mean opportunities to examine and ask questions about the decisions we make. This means having your voice heard in the planning of decisions and policies, and feeding back on what works well and what does not. 

Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Strategy: Is a 10-year strategy to reduce the rates of suicides and improve outcomes for people affected by suicide and self-harm.

United Nations: The United Nations is an organisation that includes almost all the world’s countries, or nations. It is called the UN for short. By the 21st century the United Nations had more than 190 members. The main goal of the United Nations is world peace.

UN Concluding Observation Recommendations: Every 5 years, the UN examines the whole UK, including Wales, on how well it is meeting its promises under the UNCRC. They assess how progress has been made towards giving every child the opportunities and protections enshrined in the UNCRC. The suggestions they give to the Government are known as the UN Concluding Observation Recommendations.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC): Is a legal agreement that sets out the rights of every child aged 0-18 years. All children have rights, no matter the colour of their skin, gender, religious beliefs, sexuality, ability, language they speak or anything else.

United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD): The UNCRPD sets out the rights of all disabled people. The Welsh Government has set out an intention to incorporate the UNCRPD into law in Wales. 184 countries around the world have adopted the Convention.

Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015: Is a law in Wales that helps us all work together to improve our environment, our economy, our society and our culture, for now, and for future generations.

Welsh Government: Wales has its own government, which works together to make policies and laws that make Wales a better place to live and work The Leader of the Welsh Government is known as the First Minister. The responsibility of the people working in Government includes improving education, health, transport, planning, social services, culture, Welsh language, the environment and much more. 

Welsh Taxes: Welsh Taxes are money raised from taxes such as the Land Transaction Tax and the Landfill Disposal Tax and are spent in Wales.

Welsh Treasury: Is responsible for managing Wales’s public money, this includes, managing spending on public services, managing devolved taxes such as the Land Transaction Tax and planning for the future.

Welsh Youth Parliament: Is a group of young people from all over Wales who are elected by their peers to speak up about things that matter to children and young people in Wales.

Young Wales: Is an initiative funded by Welsh Government. It helps young people across Wales to talk about the things that matter to them. It helps them share their views, take part in activities and events. It gives them a chance to tell Welsh ministers what young people say.