Organisations and individuals that have applied for the Addressing Depopulation Fund: FOI release

Information requested

• Information on how many organisations/individuals have applied to or have been beneficiaries of the Addressing Depopulation Fund.
• How much has been given to each organisation, in addition to the names of each individual/organisation.

Response

The 2024 Addressing Depopulation Action Plan sets out the Scottish Government’s strategic approach to supporting communities facing population decline. Following publication of the Action Plan, the first phase of work has had an overall funding commitment of £427,500 per year across financial years 2024/25 and 2025/26. For each year, this comprises £360,000 for the Addressing Depopulation Fund and £67,500 for Community Settlement Officers. Information on the breakdown of this is provided within this response.

The Addressing Depopulation Fund was announced within the Addressing Depopulation Action Plan. The Plan publicly announced an initial fund amount of £180,000 per year. Since publication, the Fund has been expanded to additionally include a £120,000 per year contribution from the Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands. Including other additional projects set out below in Inverclyde, Dumfries and Galloway and North Ayrshire, the total Addressing Depopulation Fund amount for both financial years since launch has been £360,000 per year.

Please also note:

• £67,500 has separately been provided in 2024/25 and 2025/26 by the Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands portfolio to support the part-funding of three Community Settlement Officer roles in Highland, Western Isles and Argyll and Bute. The remainder of the costs for these posts is provided by the host local authorities. These roles pre-date the Addressing Depopulation Fund and the posts aim to support local authorities’ strategic priorities to attract and retain people within their communities.
• No individuals have been a beneficiary of any Scottish Government funding related to depopulation. All beneficiaries to date have been local authorities in areas facing population decline.

The following therefore sets out a response to your questions, set out by financial year:

2024/25

Applicant	Amount
Inverclyde Council	£30,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund
Highland Council	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund £22,500 – Community Settlement Officer
Dumfries and Galloway Council	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund £30,000 – Research
East Ayrshire Council	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund £22,500 – Community Settlement Officer
Argyll and Bute Council	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund £22,500 – Community Settlement Officer

2025/26

Applicant	Amount
Inverclyde Council	£30,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund
Highland Council	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund £22,500 – Community Settlement Officer
Dumfries and Galloway Council	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund
East Ayrshire Council	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund £22,500 – Community Settlement Officer
Argyll and Bute Council	£60,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund £22,500 – Community Settlement Officer
North Ayrshire Council	£30,000 – Addressing Depopulation Fund

Please note that the £30,000 for North Ayrshire Council is a result of reallocating budget which was previously used in 2024/25 to support now-concluded research work in Dumfries & Galloway.

2026/27

The following sets out organisations who, in Autumn 2025, applied for funding as part of a prospective Phase Two of delivery of the Addressing Depopulation Action Plan:

Argyll and Bute Council	Highland Council
Dumfries and Galloway Council	Moray Council
East Ayrshire Council	Falkirk Council
North Ayrshire Council	Orkney Council
Inverclyde Council	South of Scotland Enterprise
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	Highlands and Islands Enterprise

The above applicants includes previous beneficiaries, other local authorities who face or are projected to face the challenge of depopulation, and two regional enterprise agencies who have been identified as having the potential to take forward targeted work on a regional basis within this policy area.

Scottish Ministers will shortly consider options for a second phase and, where resource allows, expand delivery across a wider range of partners. For ease, it is intended that all future funding will consider the totality of spend to be under the umbrella of the Addressing Depopulation Fund. This second phase would run from April 2026, after current projects finish.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.