Community projects and services in some of Scotland’s most disadvantaged areas are set to share more than £30 million under a planned three-year fund aimed at tackling poverty, disadvantage and racism. First Minister John Swinney announced the Scotland Together Fund on 17 October, describing it as support for grassroots organisations working with communities across the country.
The money is intended to become available from 2027/28. It is therefore a future funding commitment rather than money that has already been distributed to organisations. The fund is still being designed, and the announcement does not identify the projects that will receive support or set out individual grant amounts.
The proposal is directed at community projects and services dealing with poverty and inequality in areas facing particular disadvantage. Its stated purpose goes beyond financing a single type of activity. Organisations are expected to support people with a range of issues, while the planned investment is intended to improve living standards and access to help within the communities they serve.
Ministers link that practical support to a wider aim of community cohesion. The Government’s position is that poverty and disadvantage can contribute to conditions in which tensions develop. The fund is intended to promote common ground and shared values between people from different backgrounds, rather than treating cohesion as separate from the pressures affecting people’s day-to-day lives.
That does not mean the fund itself is a response to a single incident or that it will produce the same result in every area. It’s likely effect will depend on the projects eventually selected, the support available to those organisations and the needs identified locally. The announcement says the programme is being designed to provide multi-year support for a wide range of grassroots projects in communities across Scotland, rather than setting out a centrally prescribed service for every community.
The three-year plan sits in a policy area where a smaller, separate Community Cohesion Fund is already due to provide £500,000 in 2026/27. That existing programme supports local initiatives addressing issues including social isolation, the cost of living, inclusion, employment, housing support and community dialogue. It was increased from £300,000, and 38 organisations benefited in its 2025/26 year.
The earlier fund gives an indication of the kinds of local work already being supported, but it should not be confused with the new Scotland Together Fund. The new commitment is larger in total value and has a later proposed start date. No distribution formula has been announced for it, and there is no published list of successful organisations, geographic allocations or project requirements at this stage.
The wider programme for government also includes a planned Ministerial Taskforce on Community Cohesion and work on a refreshed plan addressing hate crime. Those measures have separate roles from the new fund. The taskforce is intended to strengthen preventative action, while the funding plan is focused on supporting projects and services on the ground.
For organisations and communities, the next significant details will be the fund’s eligibility rules, application arrangements, delivery timetable and the way decisions on grants will be made. Until those are published, the confirmed development is the commitment of more than £30 million over three years from 2027/28 for grassroots work intended to improve lives and help build more cohesive, resilient communities.
