Latest Scottish & UK Budgets briefings & policy papers

Summary Years of underfunding and poor funding practices, and crises such as the pandemic, and the cost-of-living crisis, have put the voluntary sector under increasing pressure, exacerbating financial and operational challenges. Eight out of ten Scottish voluntary organisations... Read more

Voluntary sector costs are climbing, funding is falling, and demand for services continues to increase. Similarly, years of underfunding and poor funding practices, and crises such as the pandemic, and the cost-of-living crisis have put the voluntary sector under increasing... Read more

Summary Scotland’s voluntary sector plays an essential role in supporting people and communities across Scotland and is central to the Scottish Government’s ambitions to eradicate child poverty, grow the economy​, tackle the climate emergency, and improve public services. Without... Read more

Voluntary sector costs are climbing, funding is falling, and demand for services continues to increase. Similarly, years of underfunding and poor funding practices, and crises such as the pandemic, and the cost-of-living crisis have put the voluntary sector under increasing... Read more

Summary Scotland’s voluntary sector plays an essential role in supporting people and communities across Scotland experiencing poverty and inequality and is central to the Scottish Government’s plans to eradicate child poverty and inequality. To support this work and build a... Read more

Summary The voluntary sector continues to face unprecedented challenges. Voluntary sector costs are climbing, funding is falling, and demand for services continues to increase. Plans to increase employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) will compound these pressures. The... Read more

Summary SCVO and colleagues across the voluntary sector welcomed the Scottish Government’s commitment to deliver Fairer Funding for the sector by 2026, including exploring options to implement multi-year funding deals. Despite this renewed focus, 18 months on from the policy... Read more

Summary The voluntary sector continues to face unprecedented challenges. Voluntary sector costs are climbing, funding falling, and demand for services continuing to increase, as a result, eight out of ten organisations report that financial difficulties rank among their most... Read more

Multi-year funding For over a decade, the Scottish Government has recognised the need for multi-year funding, committing to longer-term funding for the voluntary sector across multiple government strategies, including within several Scottish Budgets and Programmes for Government... Read more

Summary of proposals Our proposals for the 2024/2025 Programme for Government cover two areas: Delivering Fair Funding by 2026 Transparent voluntary sector funding This paper focuses on Fair Funding, a long-term, flexible, sustainable, and accessible approach to funding essential... Read more