Child rights and wellbeing impact assessment external guidance and templates

Stage 1 – Screening (Initial Assessment of potential impact)

The Stage 1 exercise is a preliminary check to see if the organisational decision, such as the creation of a new policy, project, programme or service, has any potential impact on children and young people’s rights and wellbeing.

The assessor probably will not fully know the impacts as this will be uncovered at Stage 2 when evidence is gathered, however, it will help to decide if a Stage 2 is needed and to start to think about what aspects to consider at Stage 2. Further information on this is outlined below.

This initial assessment should not take long to complete. It should be completed as early as possible in the development stage and mark the date when the decision was made to start drafting this work in question 1.a of the template.

Even if from this initial assessment no Stage 2 is required, you have still engaged in the CRWIA process and through analysis of the piece of work, found that it will not have a significant potential impact on children and young people. Therefore, it is not necessary or proportionate to complete a Stage 2.

We will now go through each of the questions on the CRWIA templates which have been developed for external use, however as mentioned above, this can be changed to fit your organisation or the purpose it needs to achieve, so don’t be afraid to change as needed.

Cashback for Community Partners’, CRWIAs have been developed for use by individual organisations and are different to the Scottish Government external template. A full list of Cashback for Community Partners’ CRWIAs is available to view and may assist with developing your own template or drafting the CRWIA.(Please click on the plus (+) button for each organisation and find a link to their latest CRWIA at the bottom of the page).

Question 1 - Brief summary

In this section briefly describe the organisational decision and resulting piece of work, as clearly as possible. Only include relevant information, additional surrounding information should only be included if required for the reader to understand the current aim of the decision. This section should be written in plain English, using language which is easy for all to understand, so abbreviations should be avoided. Children may want to read the CRWIA, so it should be written for them to understand. It is recommended to pitch the writing to a 9 year old’s reading level. Guidance is available on the UK Government website to assist with writing styles and accessibility. Please also be mindful that a reader may have no prior knowledge of the organisation and their work.

Question 2 - What aspects of the decision will affect children and young people up to age 18?

In this question, consider how the organisation’s decision will affect children and young people specifically. Please consider:

• the decision as a whole and then analyse specific features or outputs of it and think of their potential impact
• both direct and indirect potential impact. For example, a service aimed at assisting adults or groups of adults could have an impact on their children
• positive and negative potential impact (we will return to this in the guidance for Stage 2)

Case example: Direct and indirect impact on children and young people.

The services that project X will provide will have a potential direct impact upon children and young people diagnosed with cancer, and their parents/ carers. We will ensure that they do not have to face cancer alone. We will be there to minimise the disruption cancer has, so families are better able to manage their day-to-day lives. By providing staff that they can trust and openly talk with about their fears and helping to reduce feelings of worry and stress around their finances, we will enable families to spend more time focusing on caring for themselves and their child. Crucially, this will lead to improved emotional wellbeing and mental health for those that we support which includes both children with cancer, and their immediate families.

Additionally, families of those impacted by cancer under the age of 18, such as siblings, cousins etc. will be indirectly impacted due to the support provided. By supporting parents/ carers of a children living with cancer, and the child themselves this in turn should improve home life in terms of general environment, finances, capacity etc. By supporting those directly impacted, the wider family may also be positively impacted.

Question 3 - Which groups of children and young people will be affected by the decision?

This can refer to any grouping of children or young people by a shared characteristic – not just age or setting but the circumstances in which they are living.

While a CRWIA should be completed in addition to other impact assessments (as it is the only assessment which takes all of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) rights into consideration), certain aspects within an Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) will more than likely cross over into the CRWIA. The potential impacts from both the CRWIA Stage 1 and EQIA screening sheet may therefore be useful and it may help if both documents are completed alongside each other.

Case example: Groups of children and young people who will be affected

Programme X works to support babies, toddlers, children and young people with a learning and communication difference at all stages of communication to be able to make choices, express their opinions and have their voices heard. As a group, people of all ages with a learning disability can struggle to have their voices heard, and thus this group of children with a communication and/ or learning disability will benefit from this tailored support. Additionally, as a service, Programme X also strives to communicate to parents, education providers and the children themselves, that all communication matters and every effort should be made to support each and every child on our Programme to have their voices heard, irrespective of communication style to create wider awareness and in turn allow for this group to be heard and thrive.

Question 4 – Is a Stage 2 Required?

While an initial assessment for all strategic decisions should be undertaken, not all pieces of work will need to progress to have a Stage 2 assessment completed.

Stage 2 will require testing potential impacts by gathering evidence and gathering the views of children and young people to provide an informed view of potential impact.

When assessing if there is need to proceed to Stage 2, please consider:

1. what is the scale of impact of children i.e. how many children and young people will be impacted

2. how significant is the impact

There may be instances when a project only has the potential to impact a handful of children and young people either directly or indirectly. However, if those potential impacts are significant it should still have a Stage 2 assessment completed. Essentially, consider, are the impacts proportionate enough that a Stage 2 is needed or necessary to fully explore?

There is no threshold on the significance of impact which would trigger a Stage 2 however, below are a list of potential aspects to consider in making a decision.

The assessor should take into account:

• the vulnerability of the groups affected by the programme or project
• the consequences of the decision for these children
• whether a high level of resources will be committed to the piece of work
• how high profile the decision is
• whether this is a major new direction for the work
• whether the decision will be subject to consultation
• whether there is a lack of evidence on the way in which this type of work could impact children and young people, including evidence from children themselves
• whether it is difficult to anticipate what the potential impact will be on children and young people

If the answer to any of these is ‘yes’, a Stage 2 is usually required. If unsure, we would always advise to lean on the side of caution and complete a Stage 2. However, it is ultimately up to the individual or group undertaking the CRWIA.

If a Stage 2 is not required the assessor must explain the decision underneath ticking the ‘CRWIA Stage 2 not required’ box.

If a Stage 2 is required, proceed to the Stage 2 preparation phase highlighted in red on the template.

Stage 2 preparation

While it is advised that all evidence is prepared first to ensure that the organisation is not consulting on areas which have already been researched, aspects of this can be filled out alongside completing the Stage 2 CRWIA.

The template helps to prepare for starting the Stage 2 by asking how the assessor will:

• gather existing evidence
• plan which stakeholders to engage with to get the information needed to inform the decision
• engage with children and young people (including specific groups) to inform the decision

The Stage 2 then notes how the assessor actually did each of these three things.