Island Resilience Fund 2026-27: Island Communities Impact Assessment

3. Consultation and engagement

The Scottish Government has undertaken ongoing engagement with island communities, businesses and stakeholders throughout the development and delivery of support measures addressing the impacts of ferry disruption.

The original Islands Business Resilience Fund (IBRF), launched in 2025, was developed in response to urgent evidence of ferry disruption affecting island communities. Following delivery of the initial Fund, the Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) undertook further engagement to better understand the ongoing impacts of disruption and to inform future support. This included three online engagement sessions delivered in partnership with the Scottish Islands Federation (SIF) during November 2025, attended by 71 stakeholders from island businesses and communities. Feedback from these sessions informed the expansion of the IBRF and highlighted the wider effects of ferry disruption beyond cancellations, including vessel capacity constraints, impacts on visitor confidence and supply chains, and challenges facing island businesses and communities.

The Scottish Government has continued to build on this evidence base during the development of the Islands Resilience Fund. In July 2026, a further programme of engagement was undertaken in partnership with the Scottish Islands Federation to gather views on the proposed Fund, including eligibility criteria, types of support, delivery arrangements and wider resilience challenges facing island communities.

Four online engagement sessions were held between 16 and 28 July 2026, involving a total of 175 participants:

• 16 July 2026: 41 attendees
• 21 July 2026: 43 attendees
• 22 July 2026: 41 attendees
• 28 July 2026: 50 attendees
• broadening eligibility for hauliers transporting non-perishable goods and livestock;

Participants included businesses, community organisations, development trusts, representative bodies, transport operators and island residents from across Scotland's island communities. Stakeholders consistently highlighted the continuing impacts of ferry disruption on business viability, employment, supply chains, visitor confidence, access to services and wider community sustainability. Participants also emphasised that ferry disruption affects entire island economies and communities rather than individual sectors alone.

Feedback from both the 2025 and 2026 engagement exercises aligns closely with the findings of the independent evaluation of the Islands Business Resilience Fund, which identified the positive contribution of previous funding rounds whilst recognising the continued impacts of ferry disruption and wider resilience challenges facing island communities.

Evidence gathered through engagement and evaluation has informed the development of the 2026-27 Fund. In particular, it contributed to proposals to clarify eligibility for fish catching and aquaculture businesses, extend support to hauliers, recognise portfolio livelihoods and improve access for smaller volunteer-led organisations. These changes are intended to better reflect the realities of island economies and the types of organisations affected by sustained ferry disruption.