Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund Launch

Christina McKelvie, The Minister for Equalities and Older People announced the news about the social isolation and loneliness fund (SIAL) at our conference on 8th March. The fund is open now, and the closing date for initial expressions of interest is 31 March 2023 (there is a longer period after that for full applications). Further information about the Fund is available here

This Fund is being managed by Impact Funding Partners on behalf of the Scottish Government. This is an open and competitive fund for third-sector organisations, grassroots and community groups based in Scotland.

Objectives of Fund
The aim of this fund is to support projects and organisations to tackle social isolation and loneliness and build stronger social connections across Scotland, in line with the A Connected Scotland (2018) strategy. The fund will also contribute to the recovery and reduction in societal harm associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, and to mitigate the impact of the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Please do share this news widely with your networks. It can be used to carry out intergenerational activities that are making a real difference in people’s lives. Intergenerational relationships break down social isolation and loneliness and bring generations together, sometimes its the simplest of things that make the real difference in our communities and break down barriers to interaction and understanding.

It is expected that around 70% of the funding will be allocated to smaller community organisations (with an income of below £500,000).

The second piece of good news is that the SIAL Delivery Plan ‘Recovering Our Connections’ has also been published today. You can read the published Plan on the Scottish Government website