Scotland’s Redress Scheme: FOI release

Information requested

As regards the redress scheme - https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-redressscheme-contributor-list/#sistersofnazareth

1.Can you please tell me how much money has been received from a) the Sisters of Nazareth and b) how much from the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul to date? If they have not paid in all of the pledged amounts is there a deadline for final payment and when is it?

2.How much in total has been received to date in redress from all contributors?

3.How much is outstanding from all contributors (ie it has been pledged but not yet received?)

4.Is there a deadline for all pledged money to be received and if so when? Have any organisations missed scheduled payment deadlines and if so how many and in each case how late are the payments and what are the amounts? [eg X organisation had been due to pay £Y by June 1, 2023]

5.Are there sanctions for ‘late’ payments; what are they, and have any been imposed? If so, please name the organisations involved.

Response

I enclose most of the information you requested below, along with an explanation of the financial amounts where appropriate.

1 a) To 18 June 2024, we have received £2,195,000 from the the Sisters of Nazareth. Their final payment into the scheme is due on 30/4/2030.

1 b) To 18 June 2024, the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul have paid £6,000,000. Their final payment is due on 31/3/2026

2. To 18 June 2024, £21,557,010 has been received from contributors to the scheme, both those making "Defined Contributions" and those whose receive an invoice at the end of the year and pay on a "Payments Determined" basis.

3. At 18 June 2024, the balance of all outstanding "Defined Contributions" is £100,958,500. 

Contributions from organisations that receive an annual invoice based on the number of redress payments made to survivors abused in care settings that these organisations were responsible for cannot be provided as these are subject to future applications being made, assessed by Redress Scotland and a financial award made. The Scottish Government does not therefore have that information you have asked for, and this is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

4. There is no defined end point for payments into the scheme. At 18 June 2024, the latest scheduled payment from a Defined Contributor is due on 30/4/2031.

Four scheduled payment deadlines have been missed to date (defined as a payment being received later than 15 days after it is due by the Redress Division within the Scottish Government so as to exclude any delays within SG Treasury and Banking).

In 2022/23, one organisation was a month late in paying £100,000. In 2023/24 one organisation paid £87,500 a month late. In 2024/25, one organisation paid £24,000 three and a half weeks late, and one organisation was six weeks late in paying £87,500.

5. As the redress scheme information for organisations makes clear (see Redress Scheme: information for organisations - gov.scot (www.gov.scot), the Scottish Government will discuss with any organisation that is struggling to make their agreed payments to the scheme. Ultimately if an organisation cannot make their fair and meaningful contribution, their exit from the scheme would have to be managed, which would ultimately mean that organisations would be eligible for civil damages to survivors rather than being eligible for a waiver through the Redress Scheme. No organisation has left the scheme to date. For individual contributions, all contributors have a clause in their contract to say that

• "Interest shall accrue and shall be payable by the Contributor on any payment of the Contribution that is not paid timeously in accordance with this Agreement at the rate of 2% per annum above the base lending rate of the Bank of England as it fluctuates from time to time.
• Any Interest received by the Scottish Ministers under this Agreement shall not be recorded as a Contribution in the Contribution and Allocations Records or Contribution and Allocations Statements. Separate records of the Interest received and its use in accordance with clause 10.5 shall be kept by the Scottish Ministers.

1. Any Interest received by Scottish Ministers may not be allocated against Contributor Attributable Sums in accordance with clause 7 but must instead be used by the Scottish Ministers:

1.  to make Redress Payments as they consider appropriate;
2.  or otherwise for the benefit of the survivors of historical Child Abuse in Relevant Care Settings in Scotland."

No such interest payments have been requested or received.

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