Policy blog

In response to the UK Government's Spring Statement, SCVO Chief Executive Anna Fowlie said: "The UK Government's announcement of over £100m of additional support for charities and communities in England is welcome news and comes on the back of calls from organisations across the... Read more

Banks are supposed to provide essential services that enable voluntary and community groups to run their organisations, deliver vital services, and safeguard money received from donors, grants and fundraising. However, the reality is that many of these services are increasingly... Read more

SCVO has written to Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise, to urge the Scottish Government to re-open the national frameworks for the Supply of Electricity and Supply of Natural Gas that provide a potential lifeline for the OSCR registered charities... Read more

On 19 January 2023, SCVO wrote to Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work to outline the key challenges facing Scotland's voluntary sector in relation to Fair Work. Fair-Work-and-Grant-Funding-Mr-Lochhead-2023-01-19Download Read more

When the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act was first passed in the Scottish Parliament, the average price of a pint was £2.40, sold in venues that would not yet see smoking indoors banned until the following year. The best-selling phone in the world was the Nokia... Read more

“While we are pleased that the Energy Bill Discount Scheme will continue to support charities at the same level as businesses, we are disappointed that the level of support will fall." Read more

Without question, the start of 2023 is shaping up to be one of the busiest periods I've encountered at SCVO. 2022, however, was no breeze. Six years into my time here, there remains an ever constant need to deal with new policies and challenges, explore different ways of engaging... Read more

SCVO and The Third Sector Interface Scotland Network have written to Clare Haughey MSP, Minister for Children and Young People, to raise concerns about the delays in communicating decisions on applications to the Children, Young People, Families and Adult Learning Third Sector... Read more

It is important to remember that we’ve heard things like this before, and there is no way to tell from a one- year budget how this on paper commitment might be implemented.  To Read more

“I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to Fairer Funding Principles in this week’s budget - including a commitment to multi-year funding. Read more