Financial redress for historical child abuse: consultation summary

Section 10:  Acknowledgement, apology and support

(Please see Questions 56 to 60 in the Respondent Information Form)

We want to know what you think acknowledgement, apology, and support might look like in the future.  

Thinking about acknowledgment and learning from the past, some things have changed from when the National Confidential Form was originally set up.  We now also have the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry and the Independent Care Review.  A redress scheme is also about acknowledging what happened.   

In relation to apology, some other countries which have a redress scheme make the offer of some form of personal apology, if the individual wishes to have that.  

Support can involve many things including emotional support, help with work and education, access to records, and more.  We can learn a lot from Future Pathways’ experience of providing in care survivors with person-centred support, what other organisations in Scotland are doing, and also how support for survivors is provided in other countries which have redress schemes.

We would like to know what you think about:

• how acknowledgement should be provided in the future;
• if a personal apology should be offered with a redress payment;
• how support can best be provided in the future, alongside the redress scheme.

Reminder about taking part in the consultation

Please remember to send us your comments by 25 November 2019. 

The following papers are available as part of this consultation:

• the full consultation paper;
• a summary of the key issues in the consultation paper (this paper);
• the Respondent Information Form, which includes all the questions;
• an Information Note.

There are a lot of questions but please remember you do not need to answer them all.  If you prefer, you can write or email us with your general comments on a financial redress scheme.  You will still need to provide all the information in the  ‘About You’ section of the Respondent Information Form if you are doing that.

Our contact details are below.  If you have any questions about the consultation and how to take part, please get in touch.  If you wish we can send you a prepaid envelope to return your response to this consultation.

redress@gov.scot 
tel: 0300 244 2242

We are working with a number of partners to help raise awareness about this consultation and how to take part.  If you are a survivor and a member of a survivor support organisation, your organisation might have further information about how they are doing that.