The Big Lottery Fund Scotland is to be boosted with £3m in grant funding for Scottish charities this year, as the Scottish government instructs the funder to begin using dormant accounts funds for voluntary sector grants covering four specific areas.
Earlier this year, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales all took a view on how to use millions of pounds in dormant money which has lain in forgotten bank accounts for years. The UK government decided to place £400m in English dormant accounts in Big Society Capital, a new financial organisation which aims to develop the social investment market in the UK.
However, Scottish and Welsh devolved governments decided to use dormant account money from their regions to provide grants for social projects. This is despite calls from minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude for all devolved nations to divert their monies to Big Society Capital (then known as Big Society Bank), as the funds will be available UK-wide.
A Scottish government spokeswoman said it did not know exactly how much would be available from Scottish dormant accounts in total yet. But she did say the first tranche of funding, expected to become available before the end of this financial year, would be £3m.
The grants issued from BIG Scotland will cover four areas. The areas covered are -
- Opportunities for children and young people
- Addressing health inequalities through increased activity
- Bridging the gap between older and young people
- Creating community-based employment opportunities
Jackie Killeen (pictured), Big Lottery Fund Scotland director, said: "We have already begun the preparatory work for this and will shortly begin a targeted consultation to enable key stakeholders to engage with our proposals. Following this, we will prepare to distribute the funds in line with the four themes agreed by the Scottish Cabinet."
