About us

Children’s Hearings Scotland (CHS) recruits, trains and supports around 2,500 volunteers across Scotland. You may have heard of us being referred to as the Children’s Panel too.

We have a range of volunteer roles including Panel Members who are tribunal decision makers and Panel Practice Advisers who support Quality Assurance. Panel Members may also act as Panel Engagement Leads or Learning Champions who support their local Panel Members.

Our volunteers

Panel Members and Regional Area Support Teams are key to the Children’s Hearings System. This system is Scotland’s care and justice system which makes sure that infants, children and young people are safe and cared for. Volunteer Panel Members take part in children’s hearings, as a panel of three, to make important legal decisions for the children who attend - keeping their views at the heart of every hearing.

We have 2,500 fantastic volunteers in our community, with six different volunteer roles:

• Panel Member – takes part in children’s hearings and makes legal decisions about the care and protection of infants, children and young people.
• Learning Champion – organises Panel Member development at a local level.
• Panel Practice Advisor – maintains the high quality of our Panel Member practice through observation at hearings and feedback.
• Local Panel Engagement Lead – a local point of contact for Panel Members.

Our vision, purpose and values

Children’s Hearings Scotland works to a set of National Standards and we make sure that our vision, purpose and values are visible in everything that we do. You can read more about our plans for our work in our Business and Corporate Parenting Plan 2024-2025 and Corporate Plan 2020-2023.

Our Vision

Our vision is for all infants, children, young people and their families to be safe, loved, and supported to realise their full potential.

Our Purpose 

Our purpose is to ensure our hearings make child-centred decisions which respect and protect children’s rights and support them to thrive.

Our strategic themes will deliver our vision through strong principled leadership, resilient systems, effective partnerships and organisational efficacy, all underpinned by our unwavering commitment to our values and delivering our contribution to Scotland’s National Outcomes.

Everything we do is underpinned by our values and we will continue to improve our capability, build our capacity and nurture our culture.
We will uphold children’s rights without fear or prejudice. We will demonstrate independence and integrity by promoting openness, transparency and accountability in all our interactions. We will make decisions based on evidence and we will be honest and transparent about the reasons for them.

Challenging: Not being complacent, but questioning ourselves and others to help us improve.

Child Centered: Making sure everything we do is in the best interests of children and young people.

Creative: Considering innovative and imaginative ways of approaching the issues we face in the work we do.  

Respectful: Treating children, young people, their families, partners and each other with care and consideration

Open: Listening, responding to and learning from feedback; acting honestly; ensuring processes are transparent; sharing information and being accountable for our actions and decisions.  

Fair: Making sure that everyone is treated with dignity and according to their individual needs; that our information and services are accessible to all; that we provide a consistent level of service to all.

The National Convener

The National Convener, Elliot Jackson, leads this volunteer community and, as Chief Executive of Children’s Hearings Scotland, the staff who work at CHS (referred to as the National Team). The Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 introduced the role of National Convener to lead and oversee the Children’s Panel.

The National Convener is an independent position with legal responsibilities to recruit suitable people to serve as Panel Members across Scotland, and to make sure they have the right training and support to enable them to make sound decisions in the best interests of infants, children and young people.

The 2011 Act created Children’s Hearings Scotland as a public body to help the National Convener carry out his legal functions. Although the National Convener is also the Chief Executive of CHS, he is independent of CHS and the CHS Board, when carrying out his legal responsibilities as National Convener. 

For more information about the National Convener role, please see our FAQs.