Scotland's Redress Scheme: scheme contributor information

3. Rationale for participation

18. Being part of the Scheme gives organisations the opportunity to be part of a nationwide, collective effort to face up to the harms of the past. It demonstrates support for faster, trauma-informed, access to redress for survivors.

19. Providing contributions to the Scheme enables organisations to address concerns raised by those who were in their care, and without the costs which may be associated with the civil court process. Participating organisations will also be included on the list of scheme contributors and therefore subject to the Scheme’s waiver. Such organisations will therefore benefit from the legal protection the waiver provides where applicants accept a payment from the Scheme. Further information on the waiver can be found in the waiver section of the document.

20. However, if an organisation does not make a fair and meaningful contribution, and is not named on the contributor list, then the applicant is able to receive the redress payment and also raise legal action against the organisation.

21. In those circumstances the applicant will be more financially secure and may feel more personally resilient, due to the non-financial redress and independent legal advice they are able to access through the scheme, than they were previously. It is possible that they would be more likely to raise legal action than before they applied to the scheme.

22. There is a moral imperative to do the right thing for survivors but the Scheme also recognises and responds to the moral duty of organisations to secure the sustainability of important services they may provide today. For organisations that were responsible for the care of children at the time of the abuse, participating in this scheme is simply the right thing to do.