Forever Edinburgh has unveiled a new charity drive today, which will see it collaborate with local tourism businesses to provide hundreds of free experiences to those most in need this festive season and beyond.
‘Resident Rewards Edinburgh Gives Back’ is being delivered via Forever Edinburgh’s ‘Resident Rewards Edinburgh’ programme, local tourism businesses, and the One City Trust, an independent charity, which supports those living in poverty or facing social inequality in Edinburgh.
Almost 500 leisure and cultural experiences will be available for One City Trust to distribute amongst its network of partners and community groups in areas such as homelessness, youth empowerment, mental health, older people, disability support, food poverty, refugees and migrants.
The scale of the initiative has been made possible thanks to the generous donations of local businesses, who have match-funded experiences purchased by Forever Edinburgh’s Resident Rewards Edinburgh programme.
This will include tickets to venues such as Edinburgh Castle, Gladstone’s Land, Go Ape Dalkeith and Camera Obscura & World of Illusions. Residents can also explore the rich stories of the capital with Mercat Tours or delve into the chilling tales at The Edinburgh Dungeon.
Camera Obscura
Tastings and tours have been organised at Johnnie Walker Princes Street, Port of Leith Distillery and Lind & Lime Gin, along with a visit to the renowned Scotch Whisky Experience. Dining highlights include The Brasserie at The Scholar, Ten Hill Place Hotel, Fazenda Rodizio Bar and Grill and The Roseate Edinburgh.
Forever Edinburgh’s Resident Rewards Edinburgh programme was launched in 2021 to reconnect residents with their city via a range of discounts, offers and exclusive experiences at attractions and venues throughout Edinburgh.
Working with local businesses, it has helped to drive the local economy, encouraging residents to get out and explore new experiences, especially at non-peak times of the year and beyond the city centre.
Edinburgh’s Lord Provost, Robert Aldridge, said:“These fantastic donations are hugely welcome and will help nearly 500 people in the city to create lasting memories. Everyone should have the opportunity to experience being a tourist in their home city, and to enjoy the incredible events and attractions we have on offer.
“Forever Edinburgh is on a drive to make sure the city’s tourism offering is truly inclusive and these contributions will be gifted to local people through our charity partners, adding to the 8,400 discounts and experiences exclusively for residents that have already been enjoyed.
“It gives a chance to people who otherwise would not be able to experience these great attractions, and I’d like to extend my gratitude to all organisations who have stepped up to make the new initiative possible and who have exceeded our expectations. Their generosity is supporting the One City Trust in its efforts to tackle inequality across our communities.”
Julie Trevisan-Hunter, Marketing Director at The Scotch Whisky Experience, added: “We have been working with Forever Edinburgh’s Resident Rewards Edinburgh since it launched in 2021.
“In that time, it has helped us to reach new audiences and attract people already living on our doorstep to come along to visit. We are delighted to support this campaign, knowing the impact it will have on those living in challenging circumstances and perhaps not able to enjoy some of Edinburgh’s iconic experiences as often as they would like.”
Resident Rewards Edinburgh Gives Back launched on Wednesday with experiences open for use until spring 2025.
Participating businesses and experiences include:
Camera Obscura & World of Illusions
Department of Magic
Edinburgh Bus Tours
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Marine Academy
Fazenda Rodizio Bar & Grill
Go Ape Dalkeith Country Park
Gladstone’s Land
Johnnie Walker Princes Street
Lind & Lime Gin
Mercat Tours
Port of Leith Distillery
The Scotch Whisky Experience
Surgeons Quarter – Ten Hill Place Hotel
The Roseate Edinburgh
The Edinburgh Dungeon
The Brasserie at The Scholar Hotel
Registered Scottish charities or constituted community groups across Edinburgh can nominate individuals to receive a voucher. To speak to One City Trust about nominations, please contact: admin@onecitytrust.com.
For further information about Resident Rewards Edinburgh, visit:
The leader of Edinburgh City Council, Labour’s Cammy Day, is being investigated by police over an allegation of inappropriate behaviour.
The Sunday Mail reported this morning that Forth councillor Day “bombarded Ukrainian refugees” with messages of a sexual nature.
The newspaper alleges he asked them sexually explicit questions, tried to meet them for wine dates and complimented them on their looks.
The Sunday Mail spoke to two Ukrainians who say Mr Day had been messaging them. They said they felt unable to ignore his unsolicited approaches due to his position within the council.
A spokeswoman for Edinburgh City Council said: “All matters raised with the chief executive and monitoring officer have been progressed through our established processes in consultation [with] our independent whistleblowing service, Safecall, and, where appropriate, Police Scotland.”
A Scottish Labour spokeswoman said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously. They are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate action is taken.”
Labour’s leader in Scotland Anas Sarwar confirmed this morning that Mr Day has been suspended from the party pending the outcome of any investigation, but Mr Sarwar refused to comment further while investigations are ongoing.
A Police Scotland spokesman confirmed: “On Tuesday 22 October, we received a report of inappropriate behaviour. Inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”
Labour is the only the third biggest party on Edinburgh Council but Mr Day has led the local authority since May 2022 with support from the Lib Dems and the Scottish Conservatives. Both of these groups are now calling for his resignation.
Lib-Dem group leader Kevin Lang said this morning: “I have this morning written formally to Cllr Cammy Day to call on him to step down immediately as Leader of Edinburgh Council.
“The Liberal Democrat group has also tabled an emergency motion for Tuesday’s Policy Committee to agree he must now resign.”
Conservative councillor Iain Whyte said last night: “If Cammy Day has been suspended by Labour he can’t have their support to remain as Council Leader.
“He must step aside immediately. The Council as a whole can then decide a way forward.”
The SNP, the largest opposition party in Edinburgh, have also called for Cllr Day’s immediate resignation.
Cllr Simita Kumar, who leads the SNP group, said Mr Day should resign without delay.
She said on Twitter: “This is beyond shocking, I’m almost lost for words. @cllrcammyday needs to resign as Council Leader immediately.”
She later added: “Serious allegations have been made against Council Leader – Councillor Cammy Day.
“I have written to Paul Lawrence, Chief Executive of City of Edinburgh Council, to take immediate actions to safeguard the public, protect staff, and offer support to anyone impacted.”
The Scottish Green group have also called for Cammy Day’s ‘immediate resignation’:
Councillor Cammy Day has made no comment but his position is looking increasingly untenable.
The Government and NHS will unveil a refreshed Workforce Plan in the summer with a ‘laser-focus’ on shifting care from hospitals and into the community, as we work to get the NHS back on its feet and fit for the future.
Lord Darzi’s shocking report laid bare the systemic issues which have gripped the NHS for years and led to poorer experiences for patients and staff. Too much care is being delivered in hospitals because of historic underinvestment in the community.
Recent data shows that:
There are almost 16% fewer fully qualified GPs in the UK than other high income countries relative to our population.
The number of nurses working in the community fell by at least 5%, between 2009 and 2023.
A reduction of nearly 20% in the number of health visitors – who can be crucial to development in the first five years of a child’s life – between 2019 and 2023.
The number of mental health nurses has just returned to its 2010 level.
The original workforce plan would increase hospital consultants by 49%, but the equivalent rise in fully qualified GPs would have been just 4% between 2021/22 and 2036/37.
Through a refreshed workforce plan, alongside reform and investment, the Government is taking the decisive action needed to ensure it has the right workforce in the right place at the right time to deliver its 10 Year Health Plan and get the NHS back on its feet to deliver world-class care.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Lord Darzi diagnosed the dire state of the NHS, including that too many people end up in hospital, because there aren’t the resources in the community to reach patients earlier.
“Our 10 Year Health Plan will deliver three big shifts in the focus of healthcare from hospital to community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. We will refresh the NHS workforce plan to fit the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, so the NHS has the staff it needs to treat patients on time again.”
Through the Government’s Plan for Change, an unrelenting approach is being taken to deliver an NHS fit for the future as part of a decade of national renewal. The Chancellor’s first Budget invested almost £26 billion of funding this year and next for the health system to address critical shortages and cut waiting lists, including delivering an extra 40,000 appointments.
Since July, significant progress has already been made by the Government on its Mission to deliver an NHS fit for the future and to support the workforce, putting funding in place to employ more GPs, ending devastating resident doctor strikes within its first few months, and sending crack teams of top clinicians into hospitals with high waiting lists.
Amanda Pritchard, chief executive of NHS England, said: “The NHS is nothing without our incredible staff and having a sustainable workforce is a key building block for an NHS fit for the future – that’s why we committed to update the plan regularly so that it reflects the changing and growing needs of patients.
“While the NHS is delivering more care to patients in the community, with the expansion of virtual wards, community diagnostic centres and neighbourhood hubs, part of our longer term goal is delivering even more care out of hospitals, and we’ll work closely with the government to refresh the workforce plan, alongside the upcoming 10 Year Health Plan.”
Delivering three big shifts in health care will be at the core of the government’s wider 10 Year Health Plan, from hospital to the community, analogue to digital, and sickness to prevention. The workforce will form a central part of this plan.
Lord Darzi’s report made clear the NHS has suffered from years of underinvestment and a lack of effective reform, with far too many patients ending up in hospital. As part of our 10 Year Health Plan, care will be shifted from hospital to the community to support the NHS to free up hospital appointments, tackling waiting lists and easing the strain on the health service.
The expansion of the hospital workforce has come at the expense of other care settings and the proportion of the total NHS budget dedicated to acute hospitals has continued to rise, while the proportion of the NHS budget going to primary care has fallen by a quarter in just over a decade – from 24% in 2009 to just 18% by 2021. Despite this significant flow of resources into hospitals, output has not risen at nearly the same rate and NHS productivity has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
Because patients can’t get the care they need in the community, like GP appointments, they end up in A&E, which is worse for them and more expensive for taxpayers. At a typical A&E on a typical evening in 2009, there would have been just under 40 people waiting in the queue. By 2024, that had swelled to more than 100 people.
The ten-year plan is due out next Spring. Following that, the workforce plan, which is due to be revised every two years, will be refreshed next summer.
Employment & Investment Minister celebrates Scottish entrepreneurship at 24th EDGE Awards
Tom Arthur MSP attends ceremony as winners take home £1.5 million in prize money –
One of Scotland’s most prestigious business awards returned for their 24th round yesterday as 37 winners took home £1.5 million in prize money from Scottish EDGE.
The awards ceremony took place in the Royal Bank of Scotland Conference Centre in Gogarburn, Edinburgh, and united forward-thinking entrepreneurs from across the country.
Tom Arthur MSP, Minister for Employment & Investment, delivered an opening speech celebrating the awards’ significance for Scotland’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Veteran awards categories returned for the 24th round, with the £75,000 Scale EDGE Award, supported by Royal Bank of Scotland, going to international football fan experience disrupter, Triptix Ltd.
Meanwhile, MedTech-focused ventures MedAscend and SimPat were among those victorious in the Scottish Enterprise supported Young EDGE category, which offers grant awards for companies whose founders are under the age of 30, as the top £15,000 winners.
Those successful in Wild Card, which provides a grant to pre-trading businesses, included Seaweed Services, who received the category’s Ailsa Reliability Solutions supported £10,000 award.
The STV-supported award of £70,000 plus £75,000 worth of ad airtime was given to sustainable bedding brand, Ava Innes, while Gut Wealth emerged as winner of the Scottish Government backed Pathways category, winning £100,000 for an innovative bacteria-based digestive health supplement.
Round 24 also saw the return of the £70,000 Circular Economy EDGE Award, which is supported by Zero Waste Scotland, and went to The Bettii Pod Ltd for its world’s first, free to use menstrual cup and disc washer plumbed into the cubicles of away-from-home toilets
Elsewhere, the Creative EDGE Award, facilitated by support from Creative UK, which champions, connects and promotes the development of the creative industries across the United Kingdom, gave a boost of £75,000 to premier video game and film art development studio, Wardog Studios.
Judith Cruickshank, MD Commercial Mid-Market at the Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “Scottish EDGE continues to show what can be achieved when Scotland entrepreneurial ecosystem works together with leading private and public sector organisations.
“Once again Royal Bank of Scotland is delighted to have supported the Scale ESDGE Awards and to host the final here at our headquarters in Gogarburn.
“Scotland remains a capital of entrepreneurial energy and continues to prosper and the Scottish EDGE illustrate the geographical reach and sector spread illustrates this. Triptix is a fine example of what is being achieved and it was an honour to present them with the Scale EDGE award. We look forward to following their success and the other winners this year.”
Jane Martin, Managing Director of Innovation and Investment at Scottish Enterprise said: “Congratulations to all of this year’s winers, especially those in the Young EDGE category, which we’re proud to support again for round 24.
“Entrepreneurship and innovation are vital to Scotland’s ongoing economic success and – with such a high calibre of EDGE participant again in 2024 – the future looks very bright indeed. By supporting the winners at start of their journey we aim to develop Scotland’s scaling businesses of tomorrow.”
Sir Tom Hunter, entrepreneur and philanthropist, said: “The only way to grow an economy is to support and build high growth businesses; Scottish EDGE is a prime mover in that arena – we have seen countless examples of these early stage businesses go to immense scale.
“In my view Scottish EDGE is the most cost-effective means for Government and the private sector together to sow the seeds of a vibrant economy.”
Evelyn McDonald, CEO of Scottish EDGE, said: “It’s an honour for us to continue to help Scottish businesses to fulfil their potential.
“By investing in such a wide variety of businesses, involved in industries as diverse as games, tech, healthcare and renewables, the 24th round of our awards is putting its faith in the huge scope for success contained within our country’s business community.
“Once again, we thank the organisations which continue to support us in this endeavour and look forward to seeing how this year’s winners develop and grow in the future”.
Supported by The Hunter Foundation, the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise, Scottish EDGE has a key role to play in facilitating the nation’s economic growth.
Scottish EDGE winners
Airspection – £100,000 – Glasgow and West – Providing remote drone services for hard-to-reach infrastructure (offshore wind). Our drones offer long-range, extended hover for efficient, safe, and cost-effective services in harsh environments.
Bebello Ltd – £100,000 – Edinburgh and the Lothians – Bebello create incredible time-saving products that new parents need.
Bespoke Fabrics Ltd – £65,000 – STV Award – Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth – Ava Innes, the premium brand helping people sleep better with UK-made sustainable bedding range including a unique patented cashmere-filled duvet, wool pillows and relaxation accessories.
Cleanifiq Ltd – £100,000 – Glasgow and West – Cleanifiq.com is a price comparison website for cleaners. It helps people and businesses save time, money when it comes to finding cleaners by comparing quotes
Gutsy Health – £100,000 – Pathways – Edinburgh and the Lothians – Gut WealthÆ is an innovative bacteria-based digestive health supplement helps the 1 in 20 people suffering with bloating and inflammation by improving bowel regularity.
Mena – £70,000 – Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth – A scientist, smallholder and keen herbologist, I work with plants, medicinal and culinary herbs, to create products that relieve menopause symptoms and support better health.
North Bridge – £75,000 – Edinburgh and the Lothians – NORTH BRIDGE MEDIA creates, develops and produces scripted primarily scripted television, bringing talented people together and bridging genres to deliver outstanding, entertaining content from Scotland.
Seluna Ltd – £70,000 loan – Glasgow and west – Seluna is a Scottish med-tech startup, developing medical software and wearable technology to support doctors to remotely diagnose and monitor pediatric sleep and respiratory disorders.
SENGUARD – £75,000 – Glasgow and west – The most valuable and most targeted digital demographic are +65s. Unlike other security subscriptions, SENGUARD stops online threats before they even reach the users device(s).
The Bettii Pod Ltd – £70,000 loan – Circular Economy – Ayrshire – Bettii is a world first, an installed, free to use, menstrual cup and disc washer plumbed into the cubicles of away from home toilets
Triptix Ltd – £75,000 – Scale EDGE – Edinburgh and the Lothians – Triptix finds the cheapest offers for UK/I football fans who want to attend games abroad.
Wardog Studios – £75,000 – Edinburgh – Wardog Studios is a premier art development studio with a global reputation for providing best in industry weapons and vehicles for videogames and film.
Your Spin Ltd – £50,000 – Edinburgh and the Lothians – YourSpin is a data-driven tech platform using gamification and instant gratification to provide brands with the tools they need to run continuous highly personalised campaigns.
Wild Card Winners
B&B Cart˘ns – £10,000 – Edinburgh – B&B Cart˘ns develops original Scottish animation IP with global appeal, leveraging international co-productions and expanding into merchandise, books, and games through strategic partnerships.
Digitech Innovation Limited T/A beelineMSKÆ – £10,000 – Edinburgh – We’ve created the IP for beelineMSKÆ, a digital self-assessment for patients with muscle/ joint conditions. We partner with healthcare organisations requiring this digital/AI platform content.
Elansu Ltd – £15,000 – Glasgow – Elansu designs and manufactures high-impact sports bras specifically engineered for fuller-bust, small-band women, addressing a significant market gap with innovative, supportive, inclusive and sustainable products
HUID – £10,000 – Oban – HUID creates food preserving, home compostable alternatives to single use plastic food packaging using an overlooked and abundant source of food waste – onion skins.
Kinteicolor – £10,000 – Glasgow – Kineticolor software enables scientists to use any camera as a non-contact process monitoring tool, alternative to capital-intensive probe-based analytics that dominate the $23 billion market.
Kyle Mcpherson (Ailsa Reliability Award) – £10,000 – Oban – Seaweed Services is company focused on revolutionising the seaweed farming and processing industry.
Northern Light Microscopy – £10,000 – Glasgow – Empowering life-scientists to make the bioscience discoveries of tomorrow by democratizing access to advanced microscopy with our suite of accessible cost-effective, compact advanced imaging
PRO-DISPENSE LTD – £10,000 – Stirling – A protein machine that dispenses a smooth blend of protein and other key supplements such as creatine, on demand whenever the user requires.
Young EDGE
Creator Campus – £10,000 – Edinburgh – Creator Campus is a digital platform designed to support early-stage entrepreneurs. We help universities build engaged entrepreneurship ecosystems that generate successful businesses with strong teams.
Fair Feast – £10,000 – Pitlochry – Fair Feast is a social enterprise that provides food banks with donations of venison, funded by wholesale sales.
MedAscend – £15,000 – Dundee – A training platform allowing medical students to improve their communication skills, ability to diagnose and create tailored treatment plans through virtual consultations with AI patients.
Out N About – £10,000 – St Andrews – A university social network designed to foster meaningful, real-life connections among students, with the mission to combat the growing loneliness epidemic on campuses.
Project Neuro Ltd – £10,000 – Elgin – Project Neuro provides specialist movement and exercise classes for those living with Long Term Neurological Conditions. Creating a social and active hub for the community.
Regeno – £10,000 – Alloa – A single-blade self-installing wind generator to reduce the lifecycle cost of wind power.
Scotia Biotech – £10,000 – Glasgow – Biotech company developing a portfolio of precision medicine, personalised healthcare medical diagnostic devices and therapeutics
SimPat – £15,000 – Edinburgh – SimPat is a novel AI-Powered online medical education platform for future medical professionals providing practice resources including simulated patient experiences.
Skin in the Game – £10,000 – Edinburgh – Skin in the Game provides a holistic-data driven allergen and irritant identification technology to users via an app.
SolarSub Ltd – £10,000 – Edinburgh – A R&D business offering floating solar panel solutions that enhance output through cooling and address environmental concerns by reducing evaporation and algae blooms.
Sunsave Solutions – £10,000 – Glasgow – Sunsave Solutions increases access to solar electricity in low-income female-led or female-majority households in Sub-Saharan Africa (Cameroon) through distributed entry-level solar home systems.
Victoria Gordon Art – £10,000 – Acharacle – Watercolour wildlife art and custom pet portraits, hand printed on premium homeware and gifts. Inspired by Scotlandís wildlife and made eco-consciously, in my home studio.
Vocabua – £10,000 – Glasgow – AI-based language learning app using proprietary algorithms to deliver personalised, effective learning with gradual vocabulary expansion, focusing on memory retention for all skill levels.
WIZARDRIGHTS LTD (t/a STARX MEDIA) – £10,000 – Glasgow – STARX MEDIA empowers top creators on Snapchat through personalized support, driving engagement, revenue growth, and expanding influence with a global, multilingual team.
An additional 15,000 unpaid carers will be supported to take short breaks away from their caring responsibilities as a result of a £5 million boost to the Voluntary Sector Short Breaks Fund.
The extra funding, set out in the draft Budget, brings the total investment to £13 million for 2025-26.
Established in 2011, the Voluntary Sector Short Breaks Fund is already supporting over 25,000 carers, including young carers, to take a break this year.
These can take a variety of forms, including short respite breaks or opportunities to pursue hobbies or learn new skills.
They can be an opportunity to have time away from caring responsibilities, or can be taken together with the person who is cared for.
Minister for Social Care, Maree Todd said: “This additional funding recognises the invaluable contribution of unpaid carers and I am pleased we can support even more unpaid carers to look after their own health and wellbeing.
“The essential care they provide for family members and loved ones cannot be understated and we want to do everything we can to alleviate the pressures many face.
“Our wider Budget sets out a record £21 billion investment in health and social care. This includes more than £2 billion for social care and integration, exceeding our target to increase funding in social care by 25% by over £350 million.”
Don Williamson, Chief Executive, Shared Care Scotland said: “We are delighted with the proposed additional £5 million investment in the Short Breaks Fund.
“This demonstrates ongoing commitment to the right to a break and is welcome recognition of the significant impact that breaks can have on unpaid carers health and wellbeing.
“It represents a significant and much-needed investment towards building a sustainable and resilient short breaks and respite sector and will further enhance the support available to unpaid carers in Scotland.”
Tickets for three standout events in the 2025 Edinburgh Science Festival programme are set to go on-sale at 10am on Monday 9 December.
Offering a jam-packed day for festival-goers, 5 April presents in-conversation events with former-NASA astronaut and oceanographer Dr Kathy Sullivan, and also with Director of Community Clothing and The Great British Sewing Bee Judge Patrick Grant.
Regularly described as ‘The World’s most vertical woman’, Dr Kathy Sullivan was the first woman to reach Challenger Deep, and the first American woman to walk in space. Join Kathy on 5 April at the Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre for Above and Below: An Astronaut’s View of our Planet,to hear firsthand about her unparalleled experiences, including her time as a crew member on three Space Shuttle missions, her role in deploying the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as her dive to the Challenger Deep.
Specifically tailored to younger science-curious minds, Dr Kathy Sullivan will also be chatting to the constantly curious science presenter Siân Bevan about her adventures in space and on earth in the family-focused event Walk Like An Astronaut, at the National Museum of Scotland, also on 5 April.
Above and Below: An Astronaut’s View of our Planetand Walk Like An Astronaut are programmed with support from the United States Embassy.
Director of Community Clothing and The Great British Sewing Bee judge, Edinburgh-born Patrick Grant also joins the festival on 5 April at the Gordon Aikman Lecture Theatre for Less with Patrick Grant.
Clothes are important. They define who we are, impact our mood and influence how people think of us. Today the average person buys 60% more clothes than they did 15 years ago and wears them for half as long.
Join Patrick Grant in conversation with broadcaster and climate writer Lucy Siegle as they consider the crisis of consumption and quality in fashion.
Edinburgh Science Festival was the world’s first festival of science and technology, and is still one of Europe’s largest.
Returning from Saturday 5 to Sunday 20 April under the theme Spaceship Earth, the 2025 festival will explore the challenges of living on a planet with finite resources through the lenses of science fiction and space exploration.
The 2025 festival will be the first delivered under the tenure of Director, Hassun El-Zafar who assumed the role in 2024.
Tickets on-sale TOMORROW at 10am on 9 December for the three events at:
It was a Scottish Budget where what was left unsaid was just as consequential as what Shona Robison mentioned in her 30-minute statement to the Scottish Parliament (writes the staff team at FRASER of ALLANDER INSTITUTE).
The Scottish Government will be hoping for many of the headlines to focus on the mitigation of the effect of the two-child limit from 2026-27. The Finance Secretary left this until last in the order to ensure maximum impact.
A very political announcement, then, given the timing of the election, and one that has no money attached to it (as far as we can tell) in the 2025-26 financial year – the year this Budget actually refers to. See more on this below.
There were also significant announcements on health spending, which is forecast to rise by 3.6% in real terms – significant growth, although as we have said frequently, how and where it is spent matters just as much as the envelope. There were also increases to the affordable housing supply programme, which was cut by a quarter last year but is now just only 2.5% below 2023-24 in real terms.
At this point, we must welcome the change in presentation of the Scottish Government’s plans, which are now compared with their best estimate of the position for the current financial year. This has helped us meaningfully scrutinise plans, although some wrinkles remain to be ironed out such as in-year transfers to local government, and which we hope will be baselined in future.
Two-child limit
The biggest surprise in the budget (although social media had got wind of it slightly ahead of time) was the promise to ‘mitigate, as far as possible, the impacts of the two-child limit from 2026.’
This was clearly a last-minute addition to the budget. The Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) stated they received it too late to add to their figures, and too late for any analysis to be included in the budget document itself or the Equality and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement. This lack of detail is troubling given the potential cost of funding this is likely to be in the region of £200m. There are far too many unknowns to say anything conclusive about impact, but there is no doubt that it would boost efforts towards the statutory child poverty targets (albeit not by nearly enough to meet them by just doing this alone).
How will the Scottish Government fund this? Well, they may be hoping that they won’t have to, and the UK Government will announce the abolition of the policy UK wide (which is widely expected to happen at some point) before the Scottish Government have to put their hands in their pocket.
Whilst early 2026 is their target date, this was heavily caveated in the statement as being dependent on the UK Government giving the Scottish Government the data to allow them to operationalise it. Given recent experience of rolling out the Scottish Child Payment, which took years, there are plenty of reasons why this may take longer than those target timescales set out. Yet in the meantime, the Scottish Government can take the moral high ground.
Relief for hospitality businesses
The Finance Secretary announced a 40% relief for small hospitality businesses that at first glance could appear very similar to the 40% relief offered by Rachel Reeves for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) businesses. However, it is a much more limited measure than the one offered in England – just for hospitality only, and only for those businesses who are “small” i.e. have a rateable value of less than £51,000.
To give a sense of scale, the SFC have estimated that this relief will cost £22m: far short of the Barnett funding generated by the measure in England of £147m.
ScotWind funding (partially) restored
Early in her statement, the Finance Secretary announced that some of the ScotWind funding that had been drawn down to fill gaps in spending in the statement in September has not been used for day-to-day spending, and instead will be retained for capital spending in 2025-26 – “for exactly the kind of long-term investment it should be spent on.”
ScotWind monies are revenues generated from the sale of offshore wind licences to energy companies. As they are one-off windfall payments from the exploitation of Scotland’s resources, they should really be used to invest in infrastructure to ensure that Scotland’s economy benefits on an ongoing basis from this sale. In particular, it should be focussed on capital spending that helps with the energy transition.
However, it is still the case that some of this fund has been used to plug gaps in day-to-day spending, even if some of the money has now been returned. The Scottish Government has used £160 million for resource funding in 2024-25. Now, in 2025-26, the Scottish Government plans to use ScotWind mostly to support £326 million of capital spending, with £10 million still used for resource.
This leaves a remaining balance of £219 million to support capital or resource spending in future years. Here’s hoping it is explicitly set aside for investment spending.
Lessons learned?
A surprising decision was to not account for the certain increase in employment costs due to the employer National Insurance Contributions that will come into effect on 1 April. As we mentioned in the last few days, we expect this will cost around £500m, and it will be an ongoing cost as the increase is permanent.
The Scottish Government doesn’t yet have confirmation as to how much they will receive from the Treasury in compensation, but any of the figures discussed in the media will be below that amount – perhaps around £300m. This means that the Scottish Government has a £200m shortfall in funding – perhaps more if it decides to compensate arms-length organisations providing public services.
What we have learned from the SFC’s documents, however, is that this shortfall remains unaccounted for in the Scottish Government’s budgeting. This is an extremely risky approach, and one which sets up a possible need for further emergency measures during the course of the next financial year – leaving us wondering whether any lessons have been learned from going into a new year without fully setting aside budget cover for what are known costs, as highlighted by the recent Audit Scotland report.
Beyond next year, there are some difficult news on the income tax forecast as well. The Scottish Government is looking at a £700m negative reconciliation in 2027-28, largely due to a much larger deduction to the block grant related to 2024-25 than that which was built into that year’s budget. This is still an early forecast, and much might change until then – reconciliations have changed significantly in the past. But if it comes to pass, it’ll be at a point when growth in funding for public services will be slowing– meaning that difficult decisions have been kicked into the future rather than planned for.
IMPROVING NHS, SCRAPPING TWO CHILD CAP AND DELIVERING UNIVERSAL WINTER SUPPORT
The SNP Government’s Budget will deliver progress for Scotland, by Scotland – after listening carefully to the people of Scotland and taking action on their concerns.
SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands Gordon Macdonald highlighted key SNP policies which will be taken forward in the Budget which will benefit people in Edinburgh including:
· Record levels of NHS funding – throwing the weight of the government behind NHS improvement
· Reintroducing universal winter heating payments for pensioners after they were axed by the UK Labour Government
· Scrapping Labour’s Two Child Cap – lifting 15,000 children out of poverty
· Increased investment in housing, supporting the delivery of 8,000 homes
· Delivering a fair tax system – meaning the majority of people in Scotland pay less tax than in the rest of the UK
Commenting Gordon said: “I am delighted at the support John Swinney’s first Budget is offering for people in Edinburgh. It will deliver real progress on people’s priorities – and will offer hope, putting in place the investment for Scotland to in the future.
“The First Minister has listened to what people have told him on the NHS – that’s why he is investing record amounts and throwing the whole weight of the government behind improving the health service, making it easier for people in Edinburgh to see their GP, bringing down waiting times, and funding the replacement of the Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh.
“People across Edinburgh have been let down by the UK Labour Government. While the UK Government’s Budget treated Scotland as an afterthought – this is a Budget that puts the people of Scotland first.
“While they cut winter fuel payments, the SNP is introducing universal support, while they push kids in Edinburgh into poverty with the cruel two-child cap, the SNP will scrap it and give thousands of kids a better chance in life.
“All this is being achieved while delivering the fairest tax system in the UK – with the majority of people in Scotland paying less tax than south of the border.
“This SNP Government have and will continue to listen to people’s concerns and take strong, decisive action to deliver on their priorities.”
DATE CHANGE 
Please note – cash payments only 
Lose your driving licence
Lose your place at university or college
Lose your job
