15th January 2026
Volunteer Scotland Statement: Scottish Government Budget 2026
Tuesday’s Scottish Government Budget brought with it mixed news for volunteers and for the wider third sector. Cabinet Secretary for Finance & Local Government Shona Robison announced a number of specific budget allocations for third sector partners (detailed below) which are welcome, however the bigger picture of third sector funding remains largely unchanged ahead of the 2026 election.
1. The budget brought a recommitment from the Scottish Government on ‘fairer’ funding: “We will make progress on our commitment to fairer funding for the Third Sector and will continue to update and strengthen regulation to support charities in Scotland,” a commitment which was also present in the previous year’s budget. Volunteer Scotland has been supporting the SCVO campaign for fair funding settlements across the third sector, and wrote a joint letter to Shona Robison ahead of the budget to reiterate the importance of financial stability for volunteer-involving organisations and their volunteers.
While it is unsurprising that significant measures in this direction are absent from a budget four months away from the election, it is welcome that there have been minor increases in multi-year funding for certain areas of the sector, including £3.5 million in funding for Disabled People’s Organisations. The Scottish Government have been eager to highlight their ongoing ‘fairer funding’ pilot, delivering around £120 million to select organisations over two years, however this is an issue which must be treated with urgency, given the critical funding positions of so many volunteer-involving organisations.
2. Funding for third sector infrastructure & development has received a minor increase from £14.1 million to £14.2 million, an important area of funding to sustain given the formal volunteering participation rate has only just begun to recover to 25% of adults, following the post-pandemic low of 18%. This spending also enables other third sector organisational support including SCVO and Third Sector Interfaces that promote volunteers at local level.
3. On the crucial matter of local government, the budget brought the introduction of new council tax bands for properties worth over £1 million, as well as a local government budget settlement of £15.7 billion, a real-terms increase of around 2%. Although these measures are welcome, they are not significant enough to bring full relief to local authorities that have been forced to cut services in recent years. The voluntary £1.6 billion of income from local authorities in the latest available data. Services competing for scarcely available council funding, a minor increase of this nature does not guarantee financial security for the voluntary organisations that are fundamental to Scottish communities but are reliant on small council grants.
4. A preliminary area of concern comes from the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering £1.5 billion in public sector ‘efficiencies’, with ‘corporate functions and workforce’ being the areas targeted for savings at this moment in time. Although specific details are yet to be announced, reductions in public sector spending of this scale have the potential to impact on the delivery of essential public services, despite the promise to ‘free up funding for investment in frontline public services’. Volunteers are too often asked to perform tasks more suited to paid workers, disproportionately in Scotland’s most deprived communities. The principles of the Volunteer Charter can help mitigate the risk that volunteering replaces paid work or is used to mask the impact of funding cuts. We’d encourage public sector leaders to join the Scottish Government in signing the Charter.
We await specific details through the Public Service Reform process to understand the full scope of these proposals.
Although aspects of this budget appear to be positive for volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations, it does not bring the change which is needed. We await more detail in other areas critical to sector sustainability. Our full focus will now turn to ensuring that there is political consensus on the importance of Volunteer Scotland’s manifesto asks ahead of the 2026 election.
Volunteer Scotland have been meeting with policy leads and election candidates from all major political parties ahead of the election and will continue discussion and collaboration with partners including the Policy Champions Network to ensure that volunteers are prioritised by the next Scottish Government.
Ewan Macleod
Policy Officer