Scottish sector responds to the chancellor's financial statement
The UK Government’s latest spending review offers little for the voluntary sector, leading Scottish figures have said.
This week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined day-to-day budgets for departments over the next three years.
The review will see NHS funding increase by 3% a year as well as more money for defence and housing.
But other departments will see their budget cuts - including 1.7% at the Home Office, 2.7% at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and 6.9% at the Foreign Office.
The social housing sector, however, emerged as a winner, with a £39 billion, 10-year programme.
Responding to the spending Review, Anna Fowlie, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations' (SCVO) chief executive, said: ”It includes little recognition of the voluntary sector, despite UK Government ambitions to work in partnership with the sector and our sector’s significant contribution to the UK economy and the government’s ambitions for growth.
“The announcement of a local growth fund and investment in communities provides welcome clarification on what will replace the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) - a key source of funding for voluntary organisations delivering services to people and communities across Scotland.
“As the UKSPF budget was cut by a third in the autumn budget, it is bitterly disappointing that the budget for 2026-27 to 2028-29 will be at the same overall level in cash terms as under the UKSPF in 2025-26, a significant reduction in funds at a time when many voluntary organisations are facing severe financial difficulties.
“Clarification of plans to utilise dormant assets in England and Wales will benefit voluntary organisations there, but further clarity is needed on allocations for Scotland which would provide much needed funds through which Scottish Government can support our essential sector. Additional funds are desperately needed for sustainable funding for Scotland’s voluntary sector which recognises rising costs, including the need to cover the full costs of employing staff.”
She continued: "The UK Government’s commitment to multi-year spending reviews is welcome and provides the Scottish Government with the clarity needed to take a more strategic approach to financial planning, including voluntary sector funding.
"The many benefits of multi-year funding, both for the voluntary sector and more broadly, are well understood. The Scottish Government’s Medium-Term Financial Strategy later this month should recognise these benefits by making progress on their commitment to Fairer Funding for the voluntary sector, including plans for multi-year voluntary sector funding settlements and Fair Funding more broadly."
John Dickie, director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, accused the Uk Government of "still rolling austerity out in the two-child limit".
He said: “The chancellor rightly described austerity as destructive, but the UK Government is still rolling austerity out in the two-child limit, pulling 109 children into poverty every single day. Struggling families won’t feel any renewal until the two-child limit – the biggest driver of rising child poverty across the UK - is scrapped and that must happen in the autumn budget.
“National renewal doesn’t start with record child poverty.”
Commenting on implications for Scotland, Dickie added: “It is now vital that the Scottish government uses its settlement in ways that that will help it meet the first minister’s ‘single most important objective’ of ending child poverty. That means prioritising further investment in the Scottish child payment, in housing, in childcare and in promoting decent family friendly job opportunities.”
Peter Kelly, chief executive of the Poverty Alliance (pictured above), said the review “fell short.”
He said: "People in the UK are desperate for a government that delivers a just and compassionate country - and that's one of the reasons so many voted for change at the last general election. They will feel that this spending review falls short.
"There was a positive story to tell on capital spending and increased resources for health and housing are welcome and will have benefits for the Scottish Government too.
"But that story masks cuts to day-to-day spending in unprotected areas. We all rely on public services, but when libraries, buses and social care system see cuts, it will be people living on low incomes that feel that impact the hardest because they are more likely to use and rely upon those services.
"After 14 years of austerity, any spending cuts will drive living standards down further. We’ve been down that road before and it’s not what people voted for.
"This review also includes £5bn worth of cuts to social security for disabled people which are expected to push 400,000 people into poverty. It is completely unjust to see the UK Government once again try to balance the books on the backs of disabled people. That also has financial implications for the Scottish Government's devolved social security benefits.
"After almost a year in power, we had expected the UK Government to take action on the two-child limit – an unjust policy that forces 80 children into poverty every single day. Thousands more children will be in poverty by the time the chancellor considers the policy again at the autumn statement.
"It doesn’t have to be this way. We’d like to see the government take a different road at the next budget – and make changes to their self-imposed fiscal rules and look seriously at the tax options being put forward by Tax Justice Scotland and our UK counterparts, so we can pay for the things our economy and society needs to function."
Helen Barnard, director of policy, research and impact at foodbank providers Trussell, said: “The chancellor is right to say that the cost of living is a continuing challenge. In the last year alone, food banks in the Trussell community provided almost 3 million parcels to people facing hunger and hardship across the UK. We warmly welcome the replacement of the Household Support Fund with a new multi-year Crisis and Resilience fund, which Trussell has been calling for. We know this helps prevent people facing short-term crisis from being pushed to having to turn to a foodbank.
“Significant new investment in social housing is also a positive step towards getting the building blocks in place that will end the need for emergency food for good. However, disabled people and carers still face the looming threat of planned record cuts to social security support which will push 440,000 people into severe hardship and at risk of needing a food bank. Unless the government changes course, disabled people on the lowest incomes will certainly not feel this government is ‘on their side’.”
Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson (pictured above) also welcomed spending commitments on social housing, saying: "The UK Government has finally recognised the importance of social housing and placed it at the heart of the chancellor’s plans.
"If additional funding is made available, only the Scottish Government can decide how it is allocated. But if the first minister is serious about tackling the housing emergency and ending child poverty, housing must be a priority.
"We demand that any consequentials arising from this investment in housing in England are passed directly to Scotland’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme. This is already the case with NHS spending — housing should be no different. After all, home is everything.
"We know that building more social homes is the only way to tackle the housing emergency. It is the only way we can move the 10,360 children currently in temporary accommodation into secure, permanent homes."
