Marine Fund Scotland 2025-2026: general guidance notes version 1 - May 2025

How will applications to the Marine Fund Scotland 2025-26 be assessed?

Eligibility checks (stage one)

All applications submitted to the Marine Fund Scotland 2025-26 will first go through technical, due diligence, and eligibility checks. These include checking that all of the applications are fully completed and all of the required supporting information and/or documentation has been provided.

If an application is complete, meets all of the eligibility criteria, all relevant documentation has been included, and is not in breach of the rules and obligations listed in the ‘Additional rules and obligations’ section of these General Guidance notes, the application will move onto the second stage of the assessment process. This second stage is the outcomes assessment.

Outcomes assessment (stage two)

In the outcomes assessment, each application will be evaluated for how well it meets the outcomes for the Marine Fund Scotland 2025-26 (as listed in the ‘Outcomes for the Marine Fund Scotland 2025-26’ section of these Guidance notes), which support Scotland’s Blue Economy Vision. Each outcome is made up of a series of criteria.

Projects do not have to meet all criteria to be successful. However, all projects must meet all of the criteria under Outcome 5 – “Delivering quality projects” – in order to be considered for an offer of grant.

Projects that meet more criteria are more likely to be offered grant funding.

The outcomes assessment will be carried out by officials from the Scottish Government’s Marine Directorate who cover a range of different topics and policy areas. The final decisions on which applications will receive an offer of grant will be based on the outcomes assessment.