Scotland's Redress Scheme – 2025 Combined Annual Report

4.20 Sailors’ Society

Background

Sailors’ Society today does not run any residential care services for children and has not done so since the closure of Lagarie Children’s Home in Scotland, which ran from 1949 to 1982. A Joint Venture Agreement with Quarriers at Overbridge followed and this ran between 1982 and 1985.

In our current work with seafarers and their families, we have robust safeguarding policies and procedures in place, which are updated as needed, reviewed annually and are in line with national and international guidelines and requirements. We also have ongoing safeguarding training.

While Sailors’ Society is not a contributor to the Redress Scheme, we are pleased to provide an account of the work we do to support survivors of abuse with access to records, funding for counselling and advice on accessing historical records.

Access to records

It is important that individuals get timely access to records, and we prioritise this area of work.

Record requests come to us in various forms:

• Calls to our designated phone line from former residents or their family members
• By email to the designated email address, which is published on our website
• By post, and
• Most frequently, through Birthlink and Wellbeing acting on an individual’s behalf.

All enquiries are handled with sensitivity, compassion, understanding and in a trauma-informed manner. We provide transparent information on the records we hold. We have limited surviving records and if we cannot provide evidence of time in care, we help in whatever way we can, giving advice on searching for records and signposting to further support. We also advise former residents and their families about how to contact the redress scheme.

Funding for emotional, psychological or practical help

In the past we have offered and funded counselling support for individuals. However, within the reporting period specified for this report, we have not been approached for help in this area.

We do, however, provide a listening ear whenever required and help in whatever way we can, including signposting to the help provided through the redress scheme.

We have been engaged in more extensive discussions with former residents of Lagarie, compared to the previous reporting period.

Advice and assistance on accessing historical records

As we have very few surviving records from Lagarie, we have conducted extensive searches for information that could be held by other organisations in relation to children who were resident there. Having approached all schools we knew children attended, we were able to access the Rhu Primary School register of admission and withdrawal for the period Lagarie Children’s Home was operational. This was the only school that had retained records for the relevant period and had Lagarie listed as the address of children from the Home. This register has become our primary reference document in helping individuals prove residency at Lagarie for redress.

During this reporting period, we received seven Subject Access Requests from individuals, relatives acting on behalf of individuals, Birthlink and Wellbeing. This is a significant reduction from the 17 received during the previous reporting period.

The redress team has sent us 15 requests to authenticate documents and/or confirm any previous payments to individuals. This is less than half the number of requests sent in the previous reporting period.

Where a record request is made by an individual for whom we have no records, we direct them to organisations that can help search on their behalf, like Birthlink and Wellbeing.

Advice and assistance on tracing and reuniting families

This is not something we have been asked to help with. In the event that this was requested, we would signpost individuals to appropriate organisations who may be able to help them with their search for relatives.

Activities relating to the acknowledgement of abuse and providing a meaningful apology to survivors

Sailors’ Society has apologised unreservedly for any abuse that was suffered by children who were in the care of the British Sailors’ Society (Scotland) at Lagarie. Apologies have been made in the media, on our website, and though personal letters to survivors known to us.

During this reporting period, we have not had any requests for an individual apology.

Additional activities

Sailors’ Society has participated openly and fully in the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, and we wrote to all former residents we were aware of inviting them to contact the Inquiry and police.

Lagarie remains on the list of establishments the Inquiry is investigating.

Improving record request processes

We work to continually improve our processes. We aim to respond to requests quickly and well within the time limit. Where a Subject Access Request is particularly complex, we keep the former resident updated and request time limit extensions if necessary.

Submitted on behalf of Sailors’ Society.

Melanie Warman

Director of Communications