SCT stands by record of support for Shetland Recreational Trust

February 20th 2026

Shetland Charitable Trust (SCT) is confident it has acted responsibly in supporting Shetland Recreational Trust (SRT) during its financial troubles.

SCT chair Robert Leask said: “We fully respect the difficult position that SRT has been in and the reluctant decision it has reached. But it is important to detail the extra support it has received and will continue to receive from SCT.

“Our current five-year grant agreement with SRT represents a 22 per cent uplift and includes steady, year-on-year increases. For 2021-2025 SRT got £16 million. That has increased to £19.6 million for 2026-2030.

“To put that into perspective, SRT will be getting approximately 40 per cent of SCT’s entire grants budget.”

In addition to this core support, SCT granted £600,000 to SRT during 2021 and 2022 to help it through the slump caused by the Covid epidemic. In 2023, SCT spotted the precarious state of SRT’s finances during routine financial monitoring. That prompted a further bail-out amounting to £512,000 during 2023 and 2024.

SRT was also awarded £6.1m in capital grant funding in April 2022 to repair and maintain its leisure centres and pools. This included £1.2m for the Scalloway Pool. In November 2023, at the request of SRT, this award was revised down to £2.5m, which included the reduced sum of £600,000 for Scalloway Pool.

Meanwhile, SCT vice-chair Ryan Stevenson emphasised the legal duty on trustees to protect the financial reserves in order to sustain the level of grant funding for all the valued services that depend upon it.

“SCT’s reserves are not a rainy day fund, as sometimes described. If SCT was called upon to plug the growing gaps in the finances of public services it would erode the reserves and reduce what we currently spend in the community.

Mr Stevenson said the £10 million-a-year grant pot for the five years to 2030 was the maximum sustainable spend. It was “hugely over-subscribed” with funding requests from over 30 charitable organisations, requiring “tough decisions” by the voluntary trustees.

“We have to make choices between what we spend on sport and leisure, social care, the voluntary sector, arts and heritage. Most get less than what they asked for.”

SCT meets tomorrow (Thurs 19^th) to conduct its regular business. An update on the issues relating to SRT will be given in private. Prior to the meeting, Mr Leask will accept the petition from the Save Scalloway Pool group in a handover ceremony outside the SCT offices.

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.

Unpaid carers do an amazing job looking after people 24/7 in their own homes, keeping them living at home safely, and they really need help to do that. Thanks to the funding from Shetland Charitable Trust, we've been able to employ a deputy manager, recruit more care attendants, and provide overnights. We're also really grateful for the funding because it means that everybody can get the service for free.