Scotland's Redress Scheme: Combined Annual Report 2024

1. Ministerial Foreword

Scotland’s Redress Scheme was established to acknowledge and provide tangible recognition of harm caused due to historical child abuse while in the care of the state by taking responsibility, accountability, and steps to put it right.

Scotland’s Redress 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 aims to empower survivors by incorporating their insights, adopting a trauma-informed approach, and offering an alternative to a possibly adversarial legal process.

I understand nothing can ever make up for the suffering survivors endured in a place where they should have been safe, loved, and respected. The scheme is making a genuine difference for many survivors, it serves as a crucial step in acknowledging the harm caused. This is achieved through issuing apologies, payments, and providing support to survivors.

The Scottish Government continues to actively seek financial contributions from organisations responsible for the care of children during instances of abuse, whether directly providing care or involved in the decision-making process leading to the children being placed in the place where the abuse took place. There are now 20 entries on the live contributions list with contributions to the Scheme totalling over £122 million. Since the last combined report was published in 2023, three new contributors have joined the Scheme: Mugdock Children’s Trust (Archibald and Isabella Barr Memorial), Action for Children and WCH Trust for Children.

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.

Since taking over portfolio responsibility for Scotland’s Redress Scheme, I have been struck by the genuine commitment from contributors to right the wrongs of the past. I want to express my appreciation to all the contributors to Scotland’s Redress Scheme as we collectively endeavour to acknowledge the injustices of the past and provide redress to survivors of childhood abuse in care in Scotland. It is making a real difference.

Kate Forbes Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Gaelic