Voluntary Action Shetland (VAS) is delighted to launch the Communities Health and Wellbeing Fund for Adults once more on behalf of the Scottish Government on Friday 5th September 2025.
The fund was established in October 2021 and to date has distributed around £66 million to community initiatives supporting mental health and wellbeing across Scotland through Third Sector Interfaces. Funding for a fifth and sixth year (£15 million each year) was announced in March 2025.
The Fund continues to have a strong focus on prevention and early intervention and aims to support grass roots community groups in tackling mental health inequalities and address priority issues of:
- Social isolation and loneliness
- Suicide prevention
- Tackling poverty and inequality
There will be a continued emphasis in Year 5 and 6 on responding to the ongoing cost of living crisis and on those facing socio economic disadvantage, with a particular focus on supporting the six priority family groups identified under Best Start Bright Futures: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan.
The Fund will continue to be delivered through a locally focused and co-ordinated approach via local partnership groups (building upon existing partnerships and with VAS as lead partner), working together to ensure that support to community based organisations is directed appropriately and in a coherent way. This collaborative approach is more important than ever, giving increasing budget and capacity constraints within individual sectors.
This is the first time Third Sector Interfaces will receive a multi-year grant award for the Communities Fund. The opportunity to grant funding across two years has arisen as part of the Scottish Government’s Fairer Funding pilot, as part of their commitment to deliver fairer funding for the third sector. The pilot has been set up to provide more certainty and allow for longer-term planning, aiming to improve stability and cost-efficiency for organisations and services.
VAS will have flexibility to award a mix of 1 year and 2 year grants to projects, to enable the fund to open each year to give projects the chance to apply.
A maximum of £5,000 can be applied for to support activities in each year.
The overarching aim of the Fund is to:
Support community based initiatives that promote and develop good mental health and wellbeing and/or mitigate and protect against the impact of distress and mental ill health within the adult population (aged 16 or over), with a particular focus on prevention and early intervention.
Specifically, it aims to:
- Tackle mental health inequalities through supporting a range of ‘at risk’ groups
- Address priority issues of social isolation and loneliness, suicide prevention and poverty and inequality with a particular emphasis on responding to the cost of living crisis and support to those facing socio-economic disadvantage.
- Support small ‘grass roots’ community groups and organisations to deliver such activities.
- Provide opportunities for people to connect with each other, build trusted relationships and revitalise communities.
Closing Date for applications is Fri 31st October 2025 – 12noon
For an application pack and for any initial enquiries please:
E-mail: [email protected]
