Scotland's Redress Scheme: combined annual report 2023

1. Ministerial Foreword

For decades, some children in residential care in Scotland were failed by those entrusted to look after them. Scotland has taken steps to face up to the failings of the past by establishing Scotland’s Redress Scheme.

Since Scotland’s Redress Scheme launched in December 2021 it has delivered tangible redress in the form of acknowledgement, payment, apology and support to survivors who suffered abuse as children while in the care of the state. The Scheme was designed to be swifter and less adversarial than court action. While nothing can ever make up for the sufferings survivors have endured, the scheme is making a real difference to many survivors as it goes some way to providing acknowledgement and recognition of the harm caused.

The scheme is underpinned by three principles – dignity, compassion and respect – and these principles remain as relevant today as they were when the scheme was designed. The scheme is designed to be survivor-led, trauma-informed and be responsive to feedback from survivors. Survivors are at the heart of everything we do, and I am personally committed to ensuring that survivor feedback on the scheme is heard and acted upon.

The Scottish Government is committed to seeking financial contributions from those organisations which were responsible for the care of children at the time of abuse, whether providing care directly or otherwise involved in the decision-making processes and arrangements by which the children came to be in care in the place where the abuse took place. There are currently 17 entries on the live contributions list with contributions to the Scheme totalling over £122 million.

This report sets out the actions taken by contributors to Scotland’s Redress Scheme to redress the historical abuse of children and is a requirement of the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021.

I am grateful to all the contributors to Scotland’s Redress Scheme for participating meaningfully in this national collective endeavour to recognise the harms of the past.

Shona Robison,

Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance