Policy blog

Following a debate on the National Insurance Contributions Bill in the House of Lords on Tuesday, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) Chief Executive, Anna Fowlie said: “The Treasury decision to increase employer National Insurance Contributions will cost medium... Read more

Commenting on the announcement that the Scottish Government will provide additional multi-year funding in the form of 45 grants to organisations across Scotland, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) Chief Executive Anna Fowlie said: “The voluntary sector has a... Read more

SCVO has responded to comments from the Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, that the public sector in Scotland will have to “absorb” a £200 million shortfall because of the UK government’s decision to increase employers’ National Insurance contributions.  Read more

Over the past few months, the implications of the increase in Employers’ National Insurance Contributions for medium and large employers in the voluntary sector has attracted lots of media coverage. This has helped to increase public understanding of the precarious nature of... Read more

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance said that yesterday’s budget was one of hope. If you look hard enough, I do think there are glimmers of hope in there for Scotland’s voluntary sector, but overall I’m not sure it will do much to dispel the immediate sense of financial... Read more

Commenting, Kirsten Hogg, SCVO’s Head of Policy and Research, said: “While lip-service continues to be paid to reforming the broken public funding landscape voluntary organisations contend with, today’s budget takes us no further forward. “This is despite the Social Justice and... Read more

SCVO’s Head of Policy and Research, Kirsten Hogg, said: “The chancellor's decision not to support voluntary sector employers with increasing National Insurance contributions is shortsighted, and belies a lack of understanding of our essential sector. We will continue to push... Read more

Ahead of the 2nd reading of the National Insurance Contributions Bill, SCVO's Chief Executive, Anna Fowlie, wrote to Scottish MPs. Below is the text of the letter, minus tailored constituency information. You can find constituency information for other MPs on the Geographical... Read more

John Swinney MSP, First Minister Scottish Government 12 November 2024 Dear First Minister Autumn Budget 2024 As you have recognised in your recent public comments, the Chancellor’s intention to increase employers’ National Insurance contributions will have a significant impact on... Read more

Last week, following months of speculation, Britain’s first female Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, delivered Labour’s first Budget in 14 years. A historic moment and important opportunity.The Budget, the Chancellor promised, would invest, invest, invest, partly by raising taxes by £4... Read more

SCVO wrote to Scottish MPs on the 5th of November following the UK Autumn Budget on the 30th of October 2024. As part of the Budget process, we write to draw your attention to the impact of proposed National Insurance changes on charities and other voluntary organisations. You... Read more

Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MPChancellor of the Exchequer By email 5 November 2024 Dear Chancellor, National Insurance employer contributions increase Following my letter dated 25 October - co-authored with NICVA, WCVA, and NCVO - I am writing to address the increase in National... Read more

Responding to the Autumn Budget 2024, SCVO Chief Executive Anna Fowlie, said: “At a time when many voluntary organisations are facing severe financial difficulties, announcements in the UK budget place new strains on the sector, while cutting key funding that people and... Read more

Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MPChancellor of the Exchequer By email25 October 2024 Dear Chancellor Autumn Budget 2024 – employers’ National Insurance contributions We are writing to you on behalf of charities and community organisations across the UK, in relation to recent reports of... Read more

SCVO wrote to Scottish MPs ahead of the UK Budget on the 30th of October 2024. Congratulations on your election. In your constituency and across Scotland voluntary organisations play an essential role supporting people and communities. We hope that you can support our sector... Read more

Last week, on behalf of SCVO, I was invited to give evidence to the Social Justice and Social Security Committee as part of the Committee’s Pre-budget Scrutiny focused on third sector funding principles. As the Committee shared in June, this inquiry examines, “how the Scottish... Read more

Tuesday 10 September 2024 Dear Chancellor, Autumn Budget 2024/Spending Review I am writing to you regarding the upcoming UK Budget. The Civil Society Group (CSG), an informal collaboration of organisations representing members and groups from the charity sector and wider civil... Read more

Wednesday 14 August 2024 Dear Ms Robison, I am writing to you to express my concern about the emergency spending controls that you announced today, and to urge fair treatment of the voluntary sector. Of course, I recognise the significant financial pressures that the Scottish... Read more

Last week, after a discussion a few weeks ago with the Clerks of the Social Justice and Social Security Committee, SCVO received the very welcome news that the Committee would focus their Pre-budget scrutiny on voluntary sector funding. The Committee want, “to examine how the... Read more

SCVO were invited to give evidence to the Finance and Public Administration Committee on the 9th of January 2024 as part of the Committee’s scrutiny of the 2024-25 Scottish budget. SCVO were also invited to suggest key issues that the Committee should be made aware of. For SCVO... Read more

Last month First Minister Humza Yousaf joined colleagues across the voluntary sector at SCVO’s annual conference, The Gathering, where he shared that Fairer, multi-year funding for the sector was on the horizon. As part of the Scottish Budget process, he offered the voluntary... Read more

Each year at the beginning of September, the Scottish Government delivers its Programme for Government (PfG), a set of actions that the government will take over the next year to progress its priorities. Specifically, the programme will include the legislation, policy initiatives... Read more

Each year at the beginning of September, the Scottish Government delivers its Programme for Government, a set of actions that the government will take over the next year to progress its priorities. Specifically, the programme includes, legislation, spending, policy initiatives... Read more

The policy cycle, like everything else, has been somewhat uncertain over the last couple of years. First Brexit and then the coronavirus pandemic have delayed the UK Budget, having a knock-on effect here in Scotland. Before the Christmas break, however, the Scottish policy-cycle... Read more

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government Shona Robison MSP to highlight concerns over the recent announcement of the Scottish Budget for 2022-23 - you can view SCVO’s Chief... Read more

Each Autumn, Committees at the Scottish Parliament prepare pre-budget reports to share with Scottish Government Ministers ahead of the December Budget. Each one is packed with recommended commitments. Like colleagues across the sector, over the last few months the policy team at... Read more

It might feel as though we are coming to the end of the budget process. However, the new-ish parliamentary process calls for scrutiny and engagement all year round. That's what we plan to do. This long-read article outlines how SCVO will continue engagement on the budget, how you... Read more

Since the launch of the 2016 Fair Work Framework and the challenge set down by the Fair Work Convention for Scotland to be a world leading Fair Work nation by 2025, there has been much support, new government departments established, a Fair Work Implementation Plan and high level... Read more

The framing of a government budget is to identify the priorities and ensure funds reach where they're needed the most. That delicate process has become fraught with difficulty and trade-offs for local and devolved governments since the financial crash. Each autumn, our policy and... Read more

Council finance officers are today analysing what effect the Scottish Government’s budget will have on local finances. One area likely to be welcomed by authorities is a commitment to move to three-year council budgets. This will result in less uncertainty across Scottish... Read more

Red box in hand, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, posed outside 11 Downing Street in front of journalists who had been informed only a few weeks previously by the Prime Minister that "austerity was over". Delivering his last Budget before Brexit, 'Spreadsheet Phil' (as the... Read more

Third sector reaction to the Autumn Statement Read more

Budgeting Fun This should be the time of year when many of us have fun with the Scottish Government budget. How much has the third sector got? Is the money going into any exciting new funds? Which communities look set to benefit? However, a delay to the budget has caused everyone... Read more

Scoping out the winners and losers in Chancellor's spending review Read more