Safer Communities Scotland marks its closure as community safety challenges continue to evolve

Safer Communities Scotland (SC Scotland) — the country’s national body for community safety — will close on 30 September 2026, following the end of its core Scottish Government funding earlier this year.

For three decades, the charity has connected people, organisations and communities working to make Scotland safer, creating space to share evidence, develop practice, and work collectively across organisational and geographic boundaries. In doing so, it has helped put into practice one of the central ambitions of the Christie Commission: greater collaboration, prevention and co-production across Scotland’s public services.

Formerly the Scottish Community Safety Network (SCSN), SC Scotland has provided a national home for community safety — bringing together local authorities, Police Scotland, public health, government, academics, third-sector organisations, and communities to share evidence, develop practice, and tackle common challenges.

Its work has ranged from antisocial behaviour and violence prevention to public health, place, community engagement, and the development of practical tools for those working in communities across Scotland. Most recently, this has included leading a national conversation on antisocial behaviour and working with Public Health Scotland to develop the Place Standard Tool for Community Safety.

Despite asking what arrangements will replace the national coordination and support SC Scotland has provided, the organisation and its members have received no detail from the Scottish Government about where those functions will sit after closure — a question that comes at an important time for community safety in Scotland.

Why this work still matters

Communities and public services are responding to an increasingly complex range of issues: persistent antisocial behaviour; violence against women and girls and concerns around drink spiking; the dangerous and antisocial use of e-bikes and off-road motorcycles; violence and disorder associated with football; retail crime; and emerging forms of harm that frequently cut across the responsibilities of individual agencies.

Recent Scottish Government statistics recorded increases in both non-sexual violent crime and antisocial offences, while Police Scotland and other partners have increasingly emphasised the need for collective and preventative responses to challenges that policing or enforcement alone cannot solve.

The things that make people feel safe or unsafe can involve policing, housing, health, education, transport, planning, inequality, the physical environment, businesses, the third sector, and vitally, communities themselves. Effective responses depend on organisations pooling knowledge and resources, working across institutional boundaries, and intervening early rather than waiting until problems reach crisis point.

For many years, SC Scotland has occupied the space between those systems — connecting people who might otherwise not meet, sharing learning across geographical and organisational boundaries, and helping turn evidence into practical action.

A message from our Chief Officer

Chief Officer David Shea said:

“Closing Safer Communities Scotland is obviously a sad moment, but I want our final message to be one of pride rather than bitterness.

“We were here. We brought people together. We asked difficult questions, championed prevention, and tried to make sure that communities themselves were part of conversations about what makes them safe.

“The challenges facing communities are not becoming simpler. From antisocial behaviour and violence to new technology and changing patterns of offending and harm, they increasingly cross traditional organisational boundaries.

“At exactly that kind of moment, Scotland needs more collaboration, not less. We need to pool knowledge, expertise and resources, learn quickly from what is happening in different places, and recognise that no organisation can make communities safer on its own.

“That is why I believe there is an important question still to be answered about what follows Safer Communities Scotland. We have asked where this national convening and connecting role will sit after we close, but neither we nor our members have yet been given that answer.

“This isn’t an argument that one small organisation had all the solutions. We didn’t. Our value was in bringing together the people who might.

“The organisation may be closing, but the need for that work has not disappeared. If anything, at a time of enormous pressure on public services and communities, collaboration, prevention and early intervention matter more than ever.”

Safer Communities Scotland has worked with partners across all 32 Scottish local authority areas and with organisations across policing, public health, government, academia and the third sector. The organisation thanks its members, partners, Board members, and current and former staff for their contribution over its lifetime.

David Shea added:

“There are countless people across Scotland who quietly spend their working lives trying to make places safer, fairer and better for the people who live in them. It has been a privilege for Safer Communities Scotland to connect and support some of those people.

“I hope our legacy isn’t simply found in the reports, tools and projects we leave behind. I hope it is also found in the relationships that have been built, the learning that has been shared, and a continued willingness across Scotland to work differently and listen to communities.

“We are immensely proud of what has been achieved.

“Safer Communities Scotland closes on 30 September. The work continues.”

Funding and closure

Core Scottish Government funding for SC Scotland ended on 31 March 2026, after almost three decades of support. Following the end of that funding, the Board agreed to use organisational reserves to maintain operations for a further six months while alternative funding options were explored.

With no sustainable replacement funding secured, SC Scotland held an Extraordinary General Meeting on 3 September 2026, at which members formally approved the closure of the organisation. Members also agreed that, following settlement of the charity’s remaining liabilities, its residual assets would be transferred to Neighbourhood Watch Scotland to support its continuing work and mission.

SC Scotland has asked the Scottish Government where the national coordination, connection and sector-support functions it previously undertook will sit following closure. At the time of publishing, neither SC Scotland nor its members have been given detail about alternative arrangements.

Recent work

• Leading work over six years to bring antisocial behaviour back onto the national agenda, including research into the Scottish picture of ASB, national conversations with practitioners and communities, and a Scottish Government-commissioned review of antisocial behaviour strategies across all 32 local authorities in 2025
• Supporting the Independent Working Group on Antisocial Behaviour, whose 2025 report called for strategic, sustainable and cross-cutting approaches focused on prevention, early intervention, partnership working, and support for victims and communities
• Working with Public Health Scotland to develop a Community Safety Lens for the Place Standard Tool
• Convening practitioners and partners on violence prevention, violence against women and girls, firework control zones, rail safety, trauma-informed practice, marches and parades, public health and community safety
• Producing and commissioning research, briefings, events and practical resources to help community safety practitioners learn from one another

About Safer Communities Scotland

Safer Communities Scotland (SC Scotland), formerly the Scottish Community Safety Network (SCSN), was established in 1997 and has operated for nearly three decades as Scotland’s national network for community safety. Further information, research and resources remain available on this website.

The SC Scotland Team