Rural services

 Scottish agricultural charity RSABI is working with Dyslexia Scotland to raise awareness of the challenges many people involved in farming face with dyslexia. 

The National Centre for Resilience (NCR) have announced that their ‘Community Councils Fund’ is open with applications closing on 31 January 2024.

The funding is for Community Councils to develop local resilience plans that address potential natural hazards such as heavy snow, landslides, high winds, and other disruptive events and subsequently enhance their local community preparedness and response to natural hazards.

The capital fund from The Robertson Trust is open to applications from registered charities with an annual income of between £25,000 and £2 million. Applications should support work that addresses the impacts of poverty and/or trauma under one or more of the following themes:

Views are being sought on the introduction of the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, a new benefit to replace the UK Government’s Winter Fuel Payment in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has previously committed to delivering the new payment on a like-for-like basis with the existing benefit. It will help more than a million pensioners with heating costs in the winter.

The Wolfson Foundation have announced that their ‘Funding for Places’ grants will be open from 20 November - 5 January (for decisions in June). The programme provides support for places and are for capital initiatives, i.e. buildings (new build or refurbishment) and equipment.

The Wolfson Foundation is an independent grant-making charity, based in central London but funding across the UK.

Farmers in North Ayrshire, West Aberdeenshire and Orkney will have the opportunity to benefit from free business support, worth around £120,000, via the 2023/24 Farm Resilience Programme which starts this month.