Fair Funding – the time to deliver

Dr Judith Turbyne

Scotland is in the enviable position of having strong and ambitious policies, aimed at creating a better future for children. We have put children’s rights at the heart of policy making through the incorporation of UNCRC, we have made the Promise, we have committed to Getting it Right for Every Child and we have a statutory basis to making child poverty a thing of the past. However, there continues to be too big an implementation gap. The twin menaces of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have not helped; it has often been difficult enough to stand still never mind progress. But while there may be some reasons, there can be no excuse for not making this gap the focus of our work over the next five years.  

Making progress depends on strong partnerships between statutory and third sector organisations. The statutory sector often directly funds third sector partners in recognition of the complementarity of the work, particularly their proven ability to reach those children who struggle most to get their rights fulfilled. This work is relational and frequently long-term in nature. However, current funding models often do not fit with that approach. 

Funding is often short term, blind to inflationary increase and ultimately undervalues the true costs of the work. Annual funding forces organisations into a negative cycle of uncertainty, impacting staff wellbeing, retention, and service continuity at a relational and practical level. It also has a significant opportunity cost with time spent on the bureaucracy required to maintain yearly funding taking away from time that could be spent on delivering higher impact. 

As an organisation, we have experience of what even a small change can make. Our Enquire service had been funded annually for over 25 years by Scottish Government. It has taken a great deal of energy to be able to continuously deliver a quality service. The Scottish Government’s move to two-year funding under the fairer funding pilot was a welcome and progressive step. It is helping reduce bureaucracy, improve staff morale and allow freedom of planning and flexible and more efficient use of funds. It means we can better focus on what matters most, supporting children. 

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has been working on ‘Fair Funding’ since 2022. There has been some progress, and real recognition within government of the difference that could make for organisations. But the steps have been relatively small, and it is time to be braver in this space.  

We welcome SCVO’s new piece of work that looks at the funding issue across the sectors, as a way of illustrating how things could and should be different. 

We have a challenging five years ahead. Supporting organisations in a way that better helps them realise their potential is essential if we are to fill the crevice that exists between what we want to do and what we are actually achieving at the moment.

Click here to read SCVO’s Fair Funding in Scotland resource