Autumn 2026 Update
Local Outcomes Improvement Plan Annual Report 2025/26
Our annual report for 2025/26 was approved by the CPP Board at its September meeting. The report highlights some of the excellent partnership working that is taking place right across East Ayrshire, and with our wider partners on a regional basis. Importantly the report also recognises the challenges that we are facing locally, and the things that we would like to be making better progress on. These will be the areas that we focus on as a partnership over the months and years ahead.
The Board also received a separate update on our work to address poverty and inequality across East Ayrshire, as well as our recent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for integrated children’s services planning.
The draft Children and Young People’s Services Plan for 2026-2029 was also presented to the Board and is now being finalised for publication. The Plan sets out our ambitious plans to work collaboratively to make sure that every child and young person in East Ayrshire has the best possible start in life. Once finalised, the new plan will be available on the Community Planning website.
The agenda and papers for our CPP Board meetings are available on the East Ayrshire Council Website.
The next CPP Board meeting will take place on 3 December 2026.
Local Outcomes Improvement Plan 2027-2030
Our recent Community Planning Conference in Cumnock represented the beginning of our stakeholder consultation on our new partnership plans that are currently being developed for 2027 and beyond. Please keep an eye on our Engagement HQ Page for updates on this work and how you can get involved – or email communityplanning@east-ayrshire.gov.uk for more information.
Community Planning Conference 2026
We were delighted to welcome Ivan McKee MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Public Service Reform to our recent conference in Cumnock Town Hall. The theme for the day was Public Service Reform and Local Priorities, which gave our community representatives and other stakeholders plenty to talk about!
The conference highlighted the importance of making sure that local people and communities continue to be involved in the decisions that affect them, and our new locality planning arrangements will help with this. There will also be more, wider public engagement around the development of our new strategic plans for 2027 and beyond in the weeks and months ahead.
In terms of future priorities, conference delegates were very keen to talk about the connectivity issues facing our more rural communities; the importance of education and skills for our young people and the future work force, including trades and apprenticeship opportunities; the pressures on health and social care services; and wider community safety issues. Representatives of our children and young people’s Cabinet also took the opportunity to challenge the Cabinet Secretary and local partners to do more to address climate change.
We are grateful to everyone who came along and supported our conference – this is just the beginning of the conversation!
Locality Planning
We are delighted to be launching our new locality planning arrangements which have been developed with colleagues in the Health and Social Care Partnership and Ayrshire360 to help strengthen the community voice in local decision making.
We have arranged a series of launch events later this month – everyone is welcome, so please come along if you would like to find out more.
- Tuesday 27th October, 1830-2000 at Cafe Bar, Shortlees Community Centre, Kilmarnock
- Wednesday 28th October, 1030-1200 Online on Microsoft Teams
- Wednesday 28th October, 1830-2000 at Morton Hall, Newmilns
- Thursday 29th October, 1330-1500 at Cumnock Town Hall, Cumnock
Further information and register your attendance
Community Planning Update – CPP Board June 2026
The agenda and papers for the most recent meeting of our CPP Board are available on the East Ayrshire Council Website.
Children’s Voices
Ensuring that local children and young people have a say, in the development and delivery of services for them, has been a key priority for partners over the last year.
Young people have been encouraged to engage with us, directly, in person, online and through our third sector partners, to let us know what they think about the services that we provide and what is important to them.
Their views are strongly reflected in the UNCRC Update Report and Annual Report on Children and Young People’s Services which were presented to the CPP Board.
A separate Corporate Parenting Action Plan update was also shared, reflecting our partnership commitment to our care experienced young people.
The Board heard that local young people are currently taking part a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment exercise, to inform the development of our new Children and Young People’s Services Plan 2026-2029. The new plan will be presented to the Board at its next meeting in September.
Trauma
Understanding the impact of trauma on our service users, employees and the wider population of East Ayrshire was the focus of one of the reports presented to the Board.
Experience of trauma can manifest in many different ways and, from a CPP perspective, can contribute to a range of partnership issues, such as school exclusions, rates of homelessness, anti-social behaviour, drug & alcohol related harms and death, mortality rates & health outcomes and staff absence from work.
Partners agreed the development of a new Trauma-Informed and Responsive Services Action Plan, to help embed this approach across our CPP.
Depopulation
Demographic Change is one of the key challenges that public services have to address. East Ayrshire has an aging population, with no natural growth – statistics show that the former coalfield areas in the south of the authority are forecast to see the greatest decline, and that our only growth will come from people moving into East Ayrshire, specifically the commuter areas around Kilmarnock in the north.
Demographic change is an issue for public services because of changing demand – more older people with complex needs requiring support and fewer younger/working people to provide that support. A reducing population also impacts on the funding that will come in to East Ayrshire, as Scottish Government funding for local authorities is often based on population numbers.
The Board endorsed a Strategic Approach to Demographic Change, a report which set out this background and also some of the strategic actions that the partnership can take to respond to, mitigate and influence our changing demographics.
Third Sector Interface
Our third sector partners play a key role in our CPP, supporting our shared priorities and reaching people who won’t engage with more formal agencies. Third sector groups and volunteers are supported locally by CVO East Ayrshire, who act as our third sector interface. In their presentation to the Board, the CVO shared insights into the pressures on volunteers, with greater demand for services and people demonstrating more complex needs. They also showcased some of the good work that is taking place, such as the Grow Together family wellbeing hubs.
The next CPP Board meeting will take place on 17 September 2026.