Grass roots mental health fund in West Lothian extended
Last updated 11th Sep 2025
West Lothian’s life-saving community mental health fund has been extended to cover two year projects.
Third Sector organisers hope the extension will enable the funding reach more people through different grass roots projects.
The flexibility of multi year funding allow newer projects time to bed down work within West Lothian communities. Councillor Sally Pattle branded the move a “positive step forward”.
Years five and six of the Scottish Government`s Communities Mental Health and Well-being Fund launched at the start of this month.
In a report to the Economy, Community Empowerment and Wealth Building PDSP Alan McCloskey the CEO of the Voluntary Sector Gateway said: “For the first time, the opportunity to grant funding across two years has arisen as part of the Scottish Government’s Fairer Funding pilot, 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.”
Around 80% of funding will be reserved for two-year projects, to ensure the benefits of the pilot are passed on and so that the impact of the pilot can be properly evaluated nationally.
The VSG has ÂŁ465,000 for activity in 2026/27. Of that ÂŁ93,000 will be available for one year only projects and ÂŁ372,000 will be available for two year projects.
The fund was introduced at the height of the Covid pandemic and has so far delivered ÂŁ2m to local volunteers who promote better mental health within communities.
Up to 150 grass roots organisations have been supported to help those most in need.
And, each year, West Lothian’s share of the national pot could have been spent three times over given the number of applications. Some difficult decisions have to be taken.
Community groups have until 6 October to submit bids for funding. The Gateway continues to put on events and highlight funding opportunities to the sector. It hosted a free training sessions into writing successful funding applications in August for sector to aid potential applicants for this and other funds.
Councillor Pattle told the meeting : “I want to say how pleased I am that the Communities Mental health and well-being fund has been opened up for multi year funding and there’s also the flexibility to award a mix of both one and two year grants depending on what suits each project.
“I think that really marks a positive step forward in the way that these things are being administered so I’m pleased to hear that is going well.”
Mr McCloskey, earlier told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “This funding saves lives.”#
He added: “Over the past four years, £2m from the Scottish Government`s Communities Mental Health and Well-being Fund has been provided to 150 small, grass roots organisations to support their initiatives.”
Funding helps organisations with costs such as staffing, equipment, venue hire, training and volunteer expenses.
Projects have tackled social isolation, loneliness, mental health inequalities, and supported those most affected by the pandemic.
This includes projects supporting a range of at-risk groups, including women, particularly those experiencing gender based violence; people with a long-term health condition or disability and those from a minority ethnic background.
West Calder and Harburn’s Community Development Trust is one of the organisations which has benefited.
Good Connections supports people in the West Calder and Polbeth areas to access activities, services and opportunities that improve their lives.
Adele Prendergast, the manager of Polbeth’s Community Hub said : “86% of people who accessed our project over the last two years have seen a meaningful improvement in their mental well-being and 100% of our regular group attendees said that the activities had had a positive effect on their mental health.
“They also all said they would recommend others join our groups. This is the impact funding like this has”.