Scottish charities challenge Chancellor on BIG Lottery funding

In advance of Wednesday’s Autumn Statement, Aberlour has led a coalition of Scottish charities in writing an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne MP. The correspondence comes in response to suggestions that the Chancellor may be planning to divert a significant portion of BIG Lottery funding away from third sector service providers in order to mitigate planned cuts in the arts and sporting sectors.

Dear Chancellor

We are writing to you in advance of Wednesday’s Autumn Statement to express, in the strongest possible terms, our anxiety at suggestions that you may be looking to divert a significant portion of BIG Lottery funding away from Scotland’s charitable organisations to make up for planned cuts in the arts and sporting sectors, or for any other reason.

As leaders of long-established third sector organisations, we want to stress just how difficult such a cut would make, not just our operations, but those of service providers, community groups and individual workers across Scotland’s voluntary sector who are changing lives on a daily basis.

We have quietly weathered the worst of the recession, and whilst we have, at times, offered constructive criticism to your legislative agenda, we have never been compelled to write to you directly in this way. Please regard it as a measure of the depth of our feeling that we are compelled to do so now.

We recognise the continuing economic difficulties that our country still faces, and with it the difficult decisions that must be taken from time to time in the pursuit of financial stability. As you are aware, we have been fighting to ameliorate the social impact of both the recession and austerity for the best part of a decade. Whilst we have seen a real terms decline in all types of revenue stream, we have had to respond to a steep increase in demand for our services, brought about by the social problems that invariably occur when times are hard.

In a lot of ways, this has represented something of a perfect storm for our organisations, but throughout this difficult time, BIG Lottery funding has been a dependable and consistent component that has assured the sustainability of our projects and services.

Its removal at this critical time, when Scotland’s local authorities are looking to further cuts from service providers, could represent an existential threat to many services, the social cost of which would far outweigh any short term financial benefit of a diversion of these funds to other sectors.

We ask you not to jeopardise a funding partnership, which delivers a social return that is far greater than the sum of its parts, and without which many would suffer at greater long-term cost to the state.

Yours

SallyAnn Kelly, Chief Executive – Aberlour

Ian Welsh OBE, Chief Executive – Health and Social Care Alliance, Scotland

Jackie Brock, Chief Executive – Children in Scotland

Duncan Dunlop, Chief Executive – Who Cares? Scotland

Alison Todd, Chief Executive – Children1st

Calum Irving, Chief Executive – Voluntary Action Scotland

Angela Morgan, Chief Executive – Includem

Heather McVey, Scotland Director – Mentor UK

Alice Drife, Chief Executive – Quarriers

Janis McDonald, Chief Executive – Scottish Council for Deafness

Satwat Rehman, Chief Executive – One Parent Families Scotland

Claire Simpson, Project Manager – Parenting across Scotland

Pandora Summerfield, Chief Executive – Downs Syndrome Scotland

John Dickie, Director – Child Poverty Action Group Scotland

Claire Stevens, Chief Executive – Voluntary Health Scotland

Dana O’ Dwyer, Chief Executive – Capability Scotland

Pat Armstrong, Chief Executive – ACOSVO

Jim Sweeney, Chief Executive – YouthLink Scotland

Martin Cawley, Chief Executive – Turning Point Scotland

Theresa Shearer, Chief Executive – Enable

Martin Sime, Chief Executive – Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations