Island business resilience fund: island communities impact assessment (December 2025)

2. What data is available and who will be affected by the Fund?

Round 1

The first round of the IBRF provided support to island-based businesses that have been most adversely impacted by ferry service disruptions. We used aggregated operational data provided by CalMac for the last three contract years (CY) to assess the scale of disruption across routes. Our analysis focused on the percentage of cancelled sailings as a proportion of scheduled sailings, identifying those routes with the highest levels of service failure.

Considerations on the impact of cancellations on all available CalMac routes showed that a number of routes experienced the highest levels of disruption – defined as exceeding 15% of all scheduled sailings. This provided us with our evidence-based threshold for prioritisation of eligibility.

The table below shows cancelled sailings as a percentage of scheduled sailings over the last three contract years (CY6-CY8), and for CY 8 only for these routes.

This data clearly indicated that the following islands had experienced the most significant and sustained disruption, and should therefore be prioritised for support through the IBRF:

• Arran
• South Uist
• Colonsay
• North Uist
• Eriskay
• Benbecula
• Berneray
• Grimsay

Round 2

The second round of the IBRF builds on the operational data provided by CalMac. The 15% disruption figure has been lowered to 10% which brings the following islands into scope:

• Coll
• Tiree
• The Small Isles (Eigg, Rum, Muck and Canna)

The previous assessment recognised that ferry disruption varies significantly across routes and subsequently, impacted island businesses in different ways. The objective for round one was to focus on routes that have experienced higher levels of cancellations.

This revised ICIA, goes beyond cancellation data alone and, building on the recognition in the first assessment, takes into consideration a wide range of stakeholder feedback noting issues such as reduced capacity.

This provides further scope and prioritisation and, building on the data used in round one, support a fair, evidence-based approach to allocating limited funding where business impacts have been most acute. It also reflects stakeholder feedback and supports the policy objectives of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 and the National Islands Plan (see below).

Following this analysis, the islands identified as facing alternative types of disruption (primarily capacity issues from vessel changes on routes) are:

• Barra
• Vatersay
• Islay
• Jura
• Mull
• Iona
• Ulva

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 includes the duty placed on relevant authorities – including Scottish Ministers (Section 7) to consider whether policies or services are likely to have a different effect on island communities compared to other areas of Scotland. The IBRF is itself a programme recognising the differential experience of island communities, and the differential experience of particular island communities, as set out above.