Charities and funders have been urged to share their views on Scotland’s public funding processes for charities before the Scottish Government’s next budget.
The Scottish Parliament’s Social Justice and Social Security Committee launched the consultation yesterday as part of an inquiry aimed at improving the efficiency of the public funding process.
The committee is seeking responses from charities and other voluntary organisations, private and public sector organisations that provide funding for the voluntary sector, and academics who have an understanding of voluntary sector funding.
Voluntary organisations, funders and other interested parties can view and respond to the consultation online before 16 August.
The committee said it had heard over recent years that voluntary organisations needed access to longer-term funding, unrestricted core funding and accessible and consistent approaches to funding applications and reporting.
It has also heard calls for sustainable funding that includes inflation-based uplifts and covers core operating costs, funding that accommodates paying staff at least the real living wage, timely processes and payments and partnerships between funders and their funded organisations.
The consultation will allow the committee to make recommendations to the Scottish Government before its 2025 to 2026 budget, which is expected to be published in December.
The consultation includes questions about the lack of certainty around longer term funding, how unrestricted core funding would enhance operational effectiveness and governance, how the funding process could be made more efficient, and existing barriers to paying staff at least the real living wage.
Colette Stevenson, the Scottish National Party MSP for East Kilbride and convener of the committee, said: “We have heard third sector organisations’ concerns about the challenges they face with an increased demand for their services offset against a backdrop of greater pressure on their funding.
“With a significant amount of the third sector’s funding coming from contracts and grants issued by local authorities, the Scottish Government and other statutory funders, we would like to understand what public bodies could do to ensure their processes and funding are fair and efficient.”
Kirsten Hogg, head of policy and research at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, welcomed the inquiry, saying: “Voluntary organisations have long called for changes to the funding landscape, as encompassed in the fair funding principles which SCVO developed with the sector.
“Having secured commitments from government and other funders to take steps towards a fairer funding environment, we must now see those turned into actions, and we are grateful that the committee’s inquiry will hear from voluntary organisations about the extent to which this is the case.”