Written by Jessie Colligan, IRES Communications and Events Assistant
We are pleased to share the latest updates from the Integrated Regional Employability and Skills (IRES) Programme, including the 2027+ proposal, the new animation video and the launch of the pledge campaign.
The IRES Programme continues to deliver significant impact across the region, exceeding its headline targets years ahead of schedule. Building on this success, we have spent the past year working with over 180 partners across the region to co-create the IRES 2027+ Proposal, setting out how the programme can be expanded to meet rising skills demand. The IRES 2027+ Proposal outlines an ambitious programme supported by £140 million of investment, aiming to deliver:
• 65,000 additional skills improvements
• 30,000 job outcomes
• 10,000 career progressions
Delivered through eight Skills Gateways and four Enabler projects, the programme will strengthen regional pathways into higher-skilled, better-paid work across key sectors.
Watch the new IRES 2027+ animation, which provides a short overview of the programme, highlights the impact achieved so far, and explains how partners across the region have co-produced the IRES 2027+ Proposal to respond to our future regional skills needs.
The IRES 2027+ Pledge Campaign was launched on 6th March by the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Region Deal Joint Committee, marking the start of a region-wide call for support for the next phase of the programme.
Over the coming months, industry partners, employers, and stakeholders across the region will be invited to sign the pledge, demonstrating their support for continued investment in the regional skills system and the vision set out in the IRES 2027+ Proposal.
If you would like to know more, please follow us on the Integrated Regional Employability & Skills (IRES) LinkedIn page.
Written by Georgina Bowyer, UKSPF Grants Manager, Capital City Partnership
King’s Trust Scotland Awards 2026
The UKSPF team were pleased to attend the King’s Trust and TK Maxx Scotland Awards last week, held on 22 January 2026 at the Voco Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow. The event celebrated seven individuals and recognised one community group for outstanding achievements in education, employment, enterprise, and social impact. The awards marked the charity’s 50th anniversary year and highlighted the 6,000+ young people supported by the King’s Trust Scotland in the last year alone. Congratulations to all the winners and we wish you well for the UK-wide awards taking place in the summer.
Success in Edinburgh
Through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) in Edinburgh, the King’s Trust has been supporting young people to find their first steps into employment or enterprise. The programmes on offer help young people to build skills and gain confidence and navigate pathways into work.
A recent Edinburgh success story that was shared with us focuses on Rhys, a young man who joined The King’s Trust Scotland’s Get Into Lifeguarding with Edinburgh Leisure programme. Rhys was unsure about his next steps after leaving school with National 4 qualifications, but with encouragement from his Careers Advisor, joined the programme. It aligned perfectly with his interests in swimming, fitness, and learning new skills.
Through the programme, Rhys developed lifeguarding and water safety skills; CPR and First Aid knowledge; and communication and interview confidence. He enjoyed the training and enjoyed working with others while building new skills. His main goal was to achieve the National Pool Lifeguarding Qualification (NPLQ)—a key requirement for future employment in the sector.
Rhys successfully completed his NPLQ and is now employed part-time with Edinburgh Leisure as a Leisure Attendant. He hopes to use this as a stepping stone toward returning to college in the future.
Rhys’ achievement reflects the meaningful impact that King’s Trust Scotland has on young people in Edinburgh and beyond. Whilst UK Shared Prosperity funding is coming to an end soon, the King’s Trust work in Edinburgh will continue thanks to alternative funding streams. To find out more about services offered in Edinburgh, you can visit the King’s Trust website here.
Written by Georgina Bowyer and Jessie Colligan, Capital City Partnership
Christmas time is about coming together to share warmth, kindness, and hope with those who need it most. Across the Capital City Partnership networks, organisations work hard to assist the most vulnerable all year round, and we are pleased to highlight several of the Christmas campaigns for this year. These wonderful initiatives are just a few examples from our UK Shared Prosperity Fund network, which we know will bring comfort to many individuals and families in Edinburgh facing hardship during this festive season. A wider list compiled by our Community Wealth Building team for the City Region is available here.
Vintage Vibes: Transforming local lives
Over 12,000 older people in Edinburgh will have the TV as their main form of company this Christmas period. For hundreds of local over-60s, everything changed with one Vintage Vibes friendship. This Christmas, you can let someone know they matter – by writing one simple Christmas card to a local older person in Scotland’s capital. Visit the Vintage Vibes website here to find out more.
Make a difference this Christmas with Fresh Start
Fresh Start is an Edinburgh-based charity helping people who have been homeless to set up their new home and settle in their community. You can show your support for those experiencing hardship this festive season by donating to the Cookers for Christmas Appeal. Your donation will help support those who are emerging from homelessness by providing them with essential white goods, such as cookers, fridges/freezers and washing machines. Visit the Fresh Start Just Giving page to get involved.
Be a Secret Santa for a vulnerable child with Action for Children
Action for Children and Nationwide Building Society are working in partnership on the Secret Santa campaign. The magic of Christmas begins in childhood - it’s a time for children to feel loved and make memories that last a lifetime. But for too many children across the UK, Christmas is anything but magical. To help change that, you can become Secret Santa by visiting the Action for Children website and donating.
Empty Kitchens Full Hearts' Big Give Challenge
For one week only, every donation you make to Empty Kitchens Full Hearts will be match-funded — doubling your impact. Donate £20 today, and you’ll provide two full weeks of healthy meals and wraparound care for someone who needs support this winter. With your help, we can reach 300 people with warmth, nourishment, and vital care during the coldest months of the year. Match funding is available from 12 pm on December 2nd to 12 pm on December 9th, 2025. To have your gift doubled, simply donate through the Big Give campaign using the link.
Thank you for supporting these campaigns.
Written by Georgina Bowyer, UKSPF Grants Manager, Capital City Partnership
As well as ushering in falling leaves and the need for extra layers, October also marks the midpoint of the financial year and an important moment in the reporting cycle for those of us managing contracts and grants at Capital City Partnership. In terms of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, we are in the fourth year of the programme, which for most organisations means the third year of funding. The service delivery (revenue) side of UKSPF Edinburgh is a continuation of the previous work allowing for consistency and for organisations to build on what has been achieved since the start of the fund. On the other hand, under the capital (physical improvements) side of the fund, new projects have been selected given the start and finish nature of the previous pieces of work. This blog provides an update on the progress of UKSPF projects at this crucial review point of the financial year.
Under capital, a budget of £250,000 has been allocated towards community centre improvements in Edinburgh and the remaining capital funding has been awarded to projects who had applied to Edinburgh’s allocation of the Place Based Investment Programme (PBIP). This strand of Scottish Government funding has similar aims to UKSPF and was over-subscribed in Edinburgh. The seven projects selected for UKSPF funding include renovation works at Bellfield, which is a B-listed former church in Portobello, owned by Action Porty, a charitable community benefit society. This well-used community space will be further improved by removing fixed pews and installing a mezzanine floor at the bottom of the balcony to create more usable and flexible spaces within the building, increasing usage and conserving energy.
Similar projects are being carried out at the Spylaw Coach House in the Colinton area of Edinburgh, and at The Byre in Duddingston. Both are repurposing historic buildings to create attractive multi-purpose community spaces which will help to increase social connection and deliver health and wellbeing activities. A brand-new adventure playground will also be created in the Wester Hailes area of Edinburgh, designed in partnership with the local community and using natural materials to create an engaging play space for children from the surrounding area, which has particularly high levels of deprivation.
In this new financial year, the “supporting local business” projects continue to thrive. Business Gateway collaborated with Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce to support several local businesses to explore international trade and to build relationships in a new market by taking part in trade missions to Boston or China. Codebase recruited for this year’s Greentech cohort, offering 32 applicants places on the programme which began in early October. Through the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce programme, four companies submitted their B Impact Assessment to B Lab UK for certification, following another two Edinburgh businesses having recently achieved their B Corp certification.
Vintage Vibes, supported through the “Communities and Place” priority, celebrated ten years of activity with a vibrant campaign ‘Ten Years Bold’ which not only marks a decade of volunteers supporting older people through one-to-one befriending and group activities, but also underlines the empowering nature of the work in helping older people to feel themselves again and be part of the community. You can see some of the campaign materials here.
Edible Estates have made significant progress in transforming the previously derelict bowling green in Oxgangs into a large neighbourhood garden, as well as successfully supporting Oxgangs Community Gardeners to become their own registered charity. Empty Kitchens Full Hearts have completed the refurbishment of their packing hall floor and have been working in partnership with U-Evolve to facilitate weekly gardening sessions for young people struggling with their mental health.
The Multiply strand of work has continued this year, now under People and Skills, offering a suite of courses including Digital Skills and an “Our World and Numbers” course at the science museum Dynamic Earth. A total of 350 clients are newly engaged in employability services funded through UKSPF in this financial year, with organisations frequently working with partners and employers to achieve support people into positive destinations. For example, Edinburgh Women’s Aid ran an employability course in partnership with State Street bank, resulting in five participants being offered work, two returning to study, and one setting up her own businesses.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is due to close in March 2026 and will be replaced by the UK Government’s Pride in Place and Local Growth Fund initiatives. Local authorities across Scotland are waiting for further guidance on how these will be implemented, following which plans and processes for their own local delivery will need to be put in place. This leaves current UKSPF-funded projects vulnerable to loss of funding, and many will need to turn their attention to sourcing alternative funding possibilities in the second part of the financial year.
In the meantime, projects across all themes continue to deliver throughout and up until the end of March. We look forward to seeing the capital projects reach completion in the coming months, and to gathering the revenue projects together for a network event in November. To read more about UKSPF-funded projects, you can explore the webpages here.
Written by Georgina Bowyer, UKSPF Grants Manager, Capital City Partnership
The Edinburgh Poverty Commission has released a 2025 update on tackling poverty in Scotland’s capital. Five years after the original report “A Just Capital”, the Poverty Commission—working alongside End Poverty Edinburgh (EPE)—has reassessed progress toward the city’s 2030 anti-poverty goals.
The report was launched at an event on Friday 31 October, attended by Capital City Partnership staff, who welcomed the findings. Rona Hunter, Chief Executive Officer, chaired an expert panel that addressed questions from the audience.
The report highlights stagnating poverty levels and rising hardship linked to the housing crisis and pressure on voluntary services. Yet, positive developments include a decline in low pay, stronger social security, better income support, and more effective neighbourhood-level collaboration.
The Commission is calling for renewed political and civic commitment, sustained funding, and genuine cross-sector collaboration to invest in housing, education, fair work, and social care. With continued collective effort, the Commission believes that it remains possible to achieve Edinburgh’s 2030 vision of a poverty-free city. You can download the full 2025 Update report here.
13th October 2025
Written by Georgina Bowyer, UKSPF Grants Manager
We're delighted to share a new film highlighting the impact of the new youth work and education building at Spartans Community Foundation.
The new building has been a success story for partnership working, with private and public investment contributing funds, including that the UK Shared Prosperity Fund has played a part.
This film captures the journey of creating the £1.4 million youth work and education building in North Edinburgh. Through stories from young people, staff, and parents, it highlights the challenges faced, the opportunities now available, and the lasting impact this space will have in providing education, youth work, and support for future generations.
Want to know more about UKSPF funded Edinburgh projects? Visit our UKSPF webpage.
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Written by Georgina Bowyer, UKSPF Grants Manager, Capital City Partnership
Today we’re highlighting the ongoing importance of digital inclusion in the context of Challenge Poverty Week and today’s theme of Better Investment in Life’s Essentials. Like so many drivers of poverty, digital inclusion has been well understood and has had successful initiatives implemented over recent years - and yet the available solutions tend to ebb and flow according to funding and can be dependent on where you live. Despite rapid and continuous digital evolution at one end of the spectrum, there continues to be those who do not have access to the basic tools to complete essential tasks online – the latest data from Good Things Foundation has found that 7.9m adults across the UK lack basic digital skills.
Not having a suitable device or internet connection often places individuals at a significant disadvantage whether that is in managing finances and accessing the best rates on bills; keeping in touch with a child’s school and finding health information; or navigating public transport. At Capital City Partnership, where a lot of our work focuses on employability and skills, we frequently hear about how important digital access is for those looking for work or seeking better work. In today’s world, we rely on digital not only to produce CVs and write job applications, but also to build networks, access training opportunities and to source advice.
Whilst there is lots of positive work happening across the city, in recent months we have been aware that people in Edinburgh cannot always find the digital support that they need. That is why we have been working alongside colleagues in the Edinburgh Partnership to help bring together a Digital Inclusion Working Group. The aim of the group is to better understand the landscape in Edinburgh and to assess what might be required in order to ensure that every resident can access an appropriate digital device, adequate connectivity and the skills support that they need in order to carry out essential tasks safely.
We know that people need support across these different elements of digital inclusion and that it should not be difficult to find or navigate support, particularly given that people are often looking for support at stressful points in their lives. In addition, some best practice principles shared by experts on the group include that digital inclusion is best delivered by or with trusted partners in the community; that drop-in and ongoing support is required to help with maintenance issues or minor problems that can otherwise set someone back; and that support should start with the needs and interests of the individual to be most effective.
To find out more, we will shortly be issuing a survey open to anyone working on poverty prevention or alleviation in Edinburgh. The survey asks people about their experiences of supporting people with digital inclusion and/or referring people to other organisations. This will help to inform discussions and recommendations going forward.
If you would like to participate in the survey, or if you are interested in joining the Digital Inclusion Working Group in Edinburgh, please feel free to get in touch with me via ge*************@********************ip.org.
6th October 2025
Written by the End Poverty Edinburgh team at the Poverty Alliance.
The End Poverty Edinburgh citizen group will be holding their third annual citizen led event at the Grassmarket Community Project during Challenge Poverty Week on Wednesday, October 8th, 09:30-15:00.
This follows End Poverty Edinburgh’s previous events in 2023 and 2024, which were attended by many representatives from well-known organisations, elected councillors and the leader of Edinburgh Council. Like in previous years, the event will focus on important issues around poverty, identified and shared by those living with and with lived experience of poverty.
Specifically, we will focus on Marginalised Communities in the morning, and Prevention in the afternoon. Each section will feature a panel of relevant speakers. There will be opportunities for dialogue and networking, and lunch will be provided as will refreshments. We hope to bring together a room full of individuals from a variety of backgrounds, organisations and professions to maximise our impact together. We’ll share a full agenda nearer the date.
Please feel free to bring a friend or colleague, or pass to someone you’d like to attend on your behalf. If you would like to attend with a colleague, please share the registration link with them. (For capacity reasons, we ask each organisation to stick to a maximum of 2 colleagues) To register, please follow the link here.
Want to know more about UKSPF funded Edinburgh projects? Visit our UKSPF webpage.
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6th October 2025
Written by Stacey Cuthbertson Grants Manager – Parents and Families
For Challenge Poverty Week, we’re highlighting how collaboration across Edinburgh’s advice and employability networks is helping people access the support they’re entitled to.
Asking for financial help isn’t always easy. Some people worry about being judged. Others don’t realise they have a right to support.
Social security is a public service, part of the same infrastructure that keeps us all going when life takes a turn. As one member of End Poverty Edinburgh put it, “The line between living a comfortable life and being in poverty is a very thin one.” In fact, almost one in five working households in Scotland are now living in relative poverty (Scottish Government, 2023). Work no longer guarantees security for many individuals and families.
Across Scotland, huge sums of support go unclaimed every year - around £7.5 billion in Universal Credit, £3 billion in Council Tax Support, and £2 billion in Carer’s Allowance. Here in Edinburgh, it’s estimated that households may be missing out on around £80 million in benefits they’re entitled to (Edinburgh Poverty Commission, 2020).
Research from Policy in Practice (2024) found that up to a quarter of people eligible for Universal Credit didn’t claim because of stigma. Others simply don’t know what they’re entitled to or find the process too complex. When people don’t claim what is theirs, the cost isn’t just personal - it’s social. Poverty drives higher demand for health and social care, education support, and crisis interventions, costs that far outweigh early income support (JRF, 2024). Policy in Practice notes, “Stigma remains one of the most damaging barriers, making people feel benefits are for someone else.”
Edinburgh has a strong advice and employability sector that works with citizens to make the system easier to navigate. Through the Intensive Family Support Service, we have seen how families benefit when advice is part of a wider team. The Maximise! Early Years partnership between Children 1st and CHAI brings family support, advice, and employability together within early years settings, giving parents wraparound support that helps to steady their household finances and plan ahead. That kind of joined-up approach prevents crisis and helps families build longer-term stability.
Advice services across the city are connected through the Edinburgh Advice Network (EAN), a collaborative space to share learning, coordinate support, and strengthen relationships across services. Later this year, EAN and the Joined Up for Jobs network will host a joint session on building stronger relationships between advice and employability providers.
This week also marks the launch of Change the Story, a regional campaign co-designed with families and frontline staff to tackle poverty stigma in practice. The campaign builds on the good work already happening across Edinburgh, highlighting the difference it makes when people are treated with dignity and respect, and when services work to remove the barriers created by stigma.
That approach is already visible across the city. Advice and employability services lead by example, offering practical, confidential support that people can trust. From a benefits check in a school to advice on childcare or in-work progression, these services show what it looks like when systems are rooted in fairness and understanding.
For most of us, needing help is temporary. What lasts is how we’re treated when we ask for it. That’s what people remember.
Change the Story: Tackling Poverty Stigma is taking place on Thursday 9th October as part of Challenge Poverty Week. We invite you to join the launch event for the Change the Story Commitment, which aims to tackle poverty related stigma. You’ll leave with tools, examples, and resources to embed dignity-based practice and take action through the Change the Story campaign. You can sign up to join the webinar here.
References
Want to know more about UKSPF funded Edinburgh projects? Visit our UKSPF webpage.
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1st October 2025
Written by Vintage Vibes Team
Vintage Vibes Celebrates 10 Years with ‘Ten Years Bold’ Campaign to Challenge Ageing Stereotypes and End Loneliness in Edinburgh’s Older People.
Edinburgh charity Vintage Vibes is celebrating its 10th anniversary on International Older People’s Day with the launch of a striking new campaign ‘Ten Years Bold’ designed to challenge stigma around ageing, celebrate incredible older people and raise vital funds to tackle loneliness across the capital.
Launching on Wednesday, 1st October, International Older People’s Day, the campaign shines a spotlight on six remarkable Edinburgh residents in their 80s and 90s (Sheila, Robin, George, Pat, Fay and Norma) whose lives have been transformed through Vintage Vibes friendships, groups and advocacy. Each Vintage Vibes ‘VIP’ is portrayed in bold sunglasses and preloved fashion against the backdrop of Edinburgh’s vibrant street art, spreading a message of resilience, joy, individuality and confidence of local older people.
“This isn’t just a celebration”, says Georgia Artus, Director of Vintage Vibes, “It’s a bold call for change. To change perceptions of older people and celebrate them as unique and fantastic individuals. To change our Vintage Vibes community by widening our reach, as we see more and more older people in Edinburgh facing chronic isolation. To change the story of a small local charity to one that is even bolder, braver and more inclusive in the years ahead.”
The campaign comes at a time when over 12,000 older people in Edinburgh have the television as their main source of company, and with Vintage Vibes’ referrers telling them that there are more than 2,000 individuals currently in immediate need of friendship services. Since launching in 2015 in response to research identifying Edinburgh as ‘the loneliest city in the UK for older people’, Vintage Vibes has delivered 40,000 hours of friendship, with some matches lasting every week for up to 7, 8 and even 9 years.
Vintage Vibes philosophy is simple but impactful: create real, lasting friendships and groups based on shared interests between VIPs (isolated over 60s) and volunteers (aged 17 to 93!). In the past year, they have supported hundreds of mutual friendships based on everything from a love of Love Island, to learning Russian, to gluten-free cooking, to computing and gaming together.
For Ten Years Bold star Sheila, 86, who got her first tattoo aged 70, Vintage Vibes proved to be life changing:
“I like to be different, but I became very depressed when I was alone. I just absolutely love Vintage Vibes. I’ve never looked back. It gave me my life back.” About the Ten Years Bold campaign shoot, Sheila said: “It was amazing, I had no idea it was going to be like that. I love my jacket, I love this colour. I started to blossom again when I got involved in Vintage Vibes. I am so different to how I used to be. Vintage Vibes have empowered me, just to do things, and I just love it.”
Fashion stylist and Vintage Vibes friendship volunteer Michelle Oberg, who styles the photoshoot using preloved clothing, said:
“My philosophy is that fashion is for everyone, and everyone deserves to feel bold and beautiful. This experience livened my spirit, and seeing everyone’s gigantic smiles looking at themselves in the mirror and how the day shifted their energies is all the more reason to see how something seemingly small can make such a huge impact, and how important this charity is. No one was lonely that day – myself included.”
Michelle, BonnieBags, and her dog Cinnamon meet with Vintage Vibes VIP Bill to go on adventures across the city, with Cinnamon often catching a ride in Bill’s mobility scooter basket.
Vintage Vibes’ ambitious campaign hopes to show real, local, isolated older people in a way they are rarely depicted, a far cry from the traditional campaigns surrounding ageing. Vintage Vibes aims to demonstrate the incredible potential of each of us, no matter our age, and what can happen when lives are transformed through friendship.
To support the Vintage Vibes ‘Ten Years Bold’ Campaign and help end local loneliness in Edinburgh, go to https://vintagevibes.org.uk/support/.
The Vintage Vibes team kindly shared a story about one of their VIP’s Norma, 89 (“Actually 23”). Norma, born in Edinburgh during the war, is in a Vintage Vibes friendship and a member of the Vintage Vibes Film Group and an active member of Armchair Adventures, a digital Vintage Vibes group to help those who are temporarily or permanently housebound to explore Edinburgh through regular Zoom tours of Edinburgh sites.
She was previously a teacher and taught at the old Victoria Primary, now Heart of Newhaven, where Vintage Vibes is based. Her confidence has increased so much as part of being in Vintage Vibes that, alongside having a friendship volunteer, she is now also a volunteer herself and phones someone every week.
Norma’s Friendship volunteer, Sarah, said Sarah said, “Norma is just wonderful; I’m so enjoying her company.”
Norma talks about how valuable Vintage Vibes has been to her, and says of Vintage Vibes, “I don’t get to see family much, that’s the trouble. That’s why I feel alone and why I like to get a visit from someone from (Vintage Vibes). I’d go mad if I didn’t! I really would, it would be awful!”
Norma said of the photoshoot and make-up chair experience: ‘I just loved the wee brushes on your face. It’s like being a kid and being taken care of. That’s what it takes you back to. I’ve never had my makeup done before; I always did it myself. To have it done was really special. I was magic. I’ll be giving out autographs soon!
What does being bold mean to Norma? “It means taking a deep breath in and speaking about something that you find is very important at that moment.” Norma is a member of VIP Voices, a committee of Vintage Vibes VIPs who advocate on behalf of older people – “I just did it and it made me felt quite good actually. I felt supported by the Vintage Vibes community [to have a voice]”.
To find out more about Vintage Vibes, visit their website here.
Want to know more about UKSPF funded Edinburgh projects? Visit our UKSPF webpage.
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