Extra funds for SRT would be unfair to other local charities

March 18th 2026

Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) has reluctantly turned down a request from Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT) for extra funds to continue operating all eight leisure centres and pools.

SCT chair Robert Leask said: “Trustees met three times to consider SRT’s request, with continued dialogue with SRT, before deciding, reluctantly, that it could damage SCT and put at risk our guaranteed funding to other community organisations.

“Our financial advisers say we already spend to our maximum sustainable level on grants, which is £10m a year. To go beyond that to boost SRT as a special case was felt by trustees to be unwise and unfair to the other charitable groups. Almost all these 30 organisations require more funding than we are able to give them.

“A five-year financial strategy is in place for 2025-2030 which provides certainty and security to these organisations. We thought through that plan carefully to ensure that we could spend the maximum amount on grant funding over the period.

“It has been an incredibly difficult decision but, following robust and considered debate, we were unanimous that we shouldn’t discard our current financial plan.
“We recognise the deep connection many people have with the Scalloway Pool. We, as voluntary trustees, are sorry to have to disappoint.”

In 2026/27 SRT is set to receive £3.8m in core grant from SCT.

Mr Leask said: “First and foremost, our trustees are bound by a legal duty to act in the long-term best interests of our trust including the funds’ longevity. These interests would not be served by overspending and risking the future funding of the 30 local organisations which depend on us so they can deliver their services to the community.

“SCT is fortunate to have benefited from strong market returns in recent years, but past experience means we need to budget for potential losses such as those currently being seen as a consequence of the US-Iran war. SCT shoulders and manages this risk to give our funded organisations certainty around their grant funding, thus enabling them to plan effectively.”

Notes:

SRT’s core grant over the five years to 2025 was £16m. For 2025-2030 this was increased to £19.6m, representing a 22 per cent uplift.
Previous extra funding agreements to SRT included £600,000 during 2021 and 2022 to help it through the slump caused by the Covid pandemic and an extra £512,000 during 2023 and 2024 to help with running costs.
SRT has an agreement to receive capital grant funding of £2.5m from SCT to repair and maintain pools and leisure centres.

Testimonials

The funding COPE Ltd receives from the Shetland Charitable Trust supports us in many ways. It allows us to develop and maintain a strong foundation to our core business and assists us to provide on-going employment skill development opportunities to people with disabilities living within Shetland. COPE Ltd highly values the support provided to our organisation by The Shetland Charitable Trust.

“The substantial grant made to us by Shetland Charitable Trust every year allows us to provide first-class facilities and dedicated staff to underpin sporting success among people of all ages and abilities in the islands.”

Having this core funding from the Charitable Trust means that we can use that money where we need it at any given time. It's multi-year funding which really takes the pressure off. To have the funding to keep going is really important as it is improving the lives of disabled folk in Shetland.

The funding that we get from the Charitable Trust pays for part of staff support and matching with other funders. Without local funders we wouldn't have national funders, and without either of those funders, we wouldn't be able to do this, so funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust is incredibly important.

The funding Shetland Arts gets from Shetland Charitable Trust is about making sure the organisation can thrive, access other funds, and deliver on behalf of the community of Shetland. Our funding from the Shetland Charitable Trust really helps us with our conversations with national funders because it shows that we're working on behalf of what the local objectives and priorities are.

The Access to Leisure scheme was introduced to allow folk to be able to get access to classes and activities for a lower cost. I feel that the SRT play a critical role in every community across Shetland and that's all down to the funding of the Shetland Charitable Trust that we're able to maintain that.

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