Key points at a glance
- Project: Evidence review and research to inform Children’s Commissioner for Wales’ Strategic Plan for 2026-29
- Applications to be sent to Ceirios Chesters
- Queries or discussions before tendering: Sara Jermin or Teleri Davies (01792 765600)
- Completion of work by 1 October 2025
- Maximum fee for the consultancy: £25,000 inclusive of VAT
- Deadline for applications: 18 July 2025
- Interviews to appoint successful applicants: w/c 28 July 2025
- Successful contract awarded: 1 August 2025
About The Children’s Commissioner
The Children’s Commissioner for Wales and her team protect and promote the rights of children and young people in Wales.
The Commissioner works for every child in Wales who is up to the age of 18, or up to the age of 21 if they’re care experienced and up to 25 if they’re care experienced and are still in education.
Rocio Cifuentes is the current Children’s Commissioner for Wales, she has defined the vision for her term as: ‘A Wales where every child and young person understands their rights, knows the children’s commissioner is there to stand up for those rights, and is able to access support for those rights to be realised’.
Our mission is that we listen to and speak up for children and young people in Wales so that children’s rights are protected, and we support, challenge and influence public services in Wales to make a positive impact on their lives.
We see ourselves as having four purposes – we are:
- Here for all children
We listen and make sure we’re accessible to all children in Wales to ensure we can effectively speak out on their behalf and represent them in the most impactful way. - A rights ‘realiser’
We support and educate children and young people to know about and understand their human rights and we support and advise public services on promoting and protecting children’s rights. - A truth teller
We will support and empower children to speak out and share their diverse experiences with decision makers. We will shine a light on specific issues and amplify unheard stories through our enhanced communications and engagement work. - A challenger
We will challenge and support others to ensure children’s human rights are realised. Although we want to work in partnership, we won’t be afraid of continuing to call out poor services, poor decision-making and poor choices if they negatively affect children’s lives.
The Commissioner set four priority areas as part of the 2023-26 strategic plan:
- Equalities
- Education / Additional Learning Needs
- Child poverty
- Mental Health
Background to work
In 2022, the Commissioner and her team carried out a large-scale consultation – Ambitions for Wales. 8830 children and young people from across Wales responded to the survey, including through specific formats created for under 7s and those with profound and multiple learning disabilities. We heard from 876 parent and carers as well as 507 professionals. These results, alongside the Commissioner’s own priorities, shaped the Commissioner’s 3-year strategic plan for 2023-26: Making Life better for Children in Wales
During 2025-26, the final year of the 2023-26 plan, the Commissioner intends to review progress of the office against the key areas evidenced by the Ambitions for Wales consultation, as well as our 3 year Strategy, with the purpose of identifying any areas of work or issues raised by respondents that have not yet been addressed, either by CCfW or other bodies / organisations. This work will help inform the Commissioner’s priorities for the remainder of her term in office and help the organisation establish a new three-year strategy covering the period 2026-29.
Aims and Objectives
This work will have the following aim:
To review and evaluate the extent and impact of the Commissioner’s and her team’s work since April 2023 in relation to the identified issues in Ambitions for Wales and the Commissioner’s strategic goals and identify gaps or areas for reinforcement. Then map and analyse this work against broader national efforts by others.
This work will have the following objectives:
- Review the work of CCfW since April 2023 in relation to the stated goals within the three-year strategy.
- Use the information gleaned from objective 1 and our Ambitions for Wales data to highlight which issues have not been adequately pursued during 2023-26 and where there is scope for further work.
- Map this against wider national work undertaken by others to produce a gap analysis which highlights where children’s rights are not being realised.
- Allow for scope to develop the gap analysis as a mapping and review tool for future public affairs work relating to children’s rights issues in Wales.
Expected Output:
- A report, covering the above objectives, and which includes an executive summary.
Scope of Work
To meet the above four objectives, please see below deliverables. This will be desk-based research and there is a possibility to discuss phasing of the work.
- Review CCfW documentation: strategic documents, annual reports, thematic reports and published materials (if required and available non-published data / information could also be shared)
- Map issues, evidence base, related policies, areas of influence, outputs, impact and gaps (see example in table 1; note there is no requirement to follow this structure when presenting the information in your final report)
- Suggest improvements in our monitoring, evaluation, and reporting processes
- Conduct a comprehensive review of national and regional programmes, initiatives, and legislative actions across Wales, including the work of Welsh Government and Senedd, since April 2023
- Assess the degree to which the above wider programmes and activities complement, reinforce, or duplicate the Children’s Commissioner’s strategic actions
- Use this analysis to clearly identify where children’s rights are not being realised and where there is scope for further work.
- Compile a final report to include a narrative of the data and gaps identified
Intellectual rights
The office of the Children’s Commissioner retains intellectual rights for all products of the research. However, it should be noted that the data collection, while conforming with social science ethical standards, will not have been subject to formal ethical review.
Your final report may be published in full or in part, alongside commentary from the office of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. We will clearly attribute your research work in any published material.
Bid Submission Requirements
- An outline of how you would meet the brief and your proposed methodology
- CVs of lead team
- Examples of similar work
- Two client references
- Timescales including key milestones
- Detailed costings
- Research ethics
You do not need to include costs of translation, report design or printing.
You will be required to comply with the Welsh Language Standards, Equality legislation, confidentiality, data protection and security of information requirements throughout.
Joint applications are welcome, on the condition that a lead contractor is clearly identified.
Please provide your response in one document of no more than 10 pages and font size no smaller than 11 point.
Evaluation Criteria
Submissions will be assessed on:
Quality including but not limited to:
- Relevant experience and understanding (children’s rights, public sector, Wales context)
- Implementation and timescales
- Added value / innovation
- Proposed methodology
Weighting – 65%
Value-for-money, including resource allocation and timeline realism
Weighting – 25%
Living wage employer
Weighting – 5%
Committed to ethical supply chains / anti-slavery supply code
Weighting – 5%
Timescales
Applications should be submitted by 5pm on or before 18 July 2025.
Interviews will take place on week commencing 28 July 2025 and the work will be awarded by 1 August 2025.
Work to be completed by 1 October 2025.