The TSI Scotland Network is a body of expert charities that support, develop and advocate for the third sector and social enterprise and that also make it easier for people to volunteer with a focus on inclusion.
There are 32 Third Sector Interfaces – or TSIs – across Scotland; one in each local authority area.
The TSI Scotland Network is supported to carry out its main functions by the Third Sector Unit of Scottish Government with a grant contribution towards core costs for every TSI.
TSIs have insights and expertise grounded in the daily realities of supporting citizens, organisations, enterprises and communities across Scotland: on the third (or voluntary) sector, on social enterprise and other forms of inclusive and democratic business models, on volunteering, community wealth building, commissioning and procurement – to name just a few.
TSIs are therefore an essential partner for local and national government and our community planning partners across virtually every area of public policy and the economy; increasingly collaborating to innovate design for public service reform, for tackling child poverty, for reversing the declines in population health.
Many of the critical challenges and opportunities facing Scotland involve the Third Sector, Social Enterprise and Volunteering. Our members and stakeholders therefore need all our political parties – in advance of the Scottish Parliament election – to make a firm commitment to take decisive action on:
Public Service Reform:
- Invest directly in Third Sector across public policy areas to ensure prevention and early intervention services are protected and to reduce long-term demand on public services.
- Ringfence and extend funding for Third Sector Interfaces to ensure they can strengthen third sector engagement with service re-design, collaborative commissioning and system leadership as part of the PSR agenda.
- Co-produce a new vision for Health & Social Care in Scotland with a clear, empowered role for TSIs and our sector.
Reducing the national inequalities in Volunteering:
- Champion reform of UK DWP rules on volunteering to maximise our shared health, wellbeing and employability outcomes for Scotland: removal of declaration requirements, inclusion of volunteering in the new ‘Right to Try Guarantee’, and the extension of Access to Work so that 280,000 Scots on benefits can take part.
- Invest in what works for delivering Volunteering for All, by reversing the real-terms reduction in Scottish Government TSI grant funding; investing in our programmes and services that make volunteering easier and more inclusive.
Fair Funding:
- Adopt and promote a national standard for multi-year funding such as that adopted by the CPIB, that is genuinely multi-annual rather than indicative, to embed best practice in funding programmes for third sector organisations across all areas of Scottish Government.
- Where possible funding should be devolved directly from Scottish Government and distributed by third sector intermediaries such as TSIs.
- Strengthen partnership working with the Third Sector through a new Covenant as elsewhere in the UK, alongside the Verity House agreement with CoSLA.
Economy:
- Restore the dedicated Minister for Community Wealth Building.
- Strengthen Community Wealth Building legislation by recognising TSIs as local anchor institutions and improving public sector commissioning and procurement requirements.
- Recognise the important role third sector plays in employability as both an employer of scale (133,000 employees, 5% of the Scottish workforce) and in supporting person-centred, place-based employment support as part of a locally-relevant mixed economy of provision.
Climate:
- Resource and build capacity for Community-Led Climate Action – Scotland’s Just Transition relies on local groups leading change. Without sustained investment, grassroots capacity—especially in rural and island areas—is undermined. Targeted seed funding, such as through Climate Action Networks, has shown success and should be expanded.
- Ensure a Just Transition through Community Engagement – Climate policies risk deepening inequalities if poorly designed. Costs of retrofitting, transport gaps, and digital exclusion can harm vulnerable groups. Early and meaningful participation builds trusted, relevant solutions. Community insight on resilience and adaptation must be embedded in climate governance, in line with the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015.
- Embed Community Voices in Climate Governance and Policy – People on low incomes are disproportionately affected by climate change and have fewer resources to adapt and recover to the impacts. Codesigning solutions alongside those communities are crucial to creating meaningful change.
Rural:
- Facilitate whole-system approaches to rural services, ensuring health, housing, transport, and economic policy are aligned and meaningfully resourced.
- Insist on greater levels of community benefit from major developments and renewable energy projects to be made available based on evidence of need and not solely on geographical proximity to a development.
- Co-produce a rural connectivity strategy, spanning transport, digital access, and workforce development.
We welcome any conversations to discuss this further. Please direct communications to TSI Network Development Manager Tia Manavis at tia.manavis@tsi.scot.