Gaelic Officers Scheme 2025-28 Guidance

This is the guidance for the Gaelic Officers Scheme 2025-28. A version of this guidance is available in PDF format here, and other formats of the guidance can be made available on request by emailing tabhartas@gaidhlig.scot.

The scheme closes at 3pm on Thursday 5 June 2025. This page was last updated on 30 April 2025. If this guidance is substantially updated, and you have begun an application on Fluxx, you will be notified via email.

About the Fund
Scope of the scheme
Organisational requirements
Postholder requirements
Submitting an application
Social responsibilities
How we will handle and assess your application
Successful applications
Unsuccessful applications
More information

About the Fund

Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s Gaelic Officers Scheme is open for a new funding round to support community-based organisations to employ an officer to carry out Gaelic activity and development.

This round of the scheme is focussed on creating stronger and more visible impact from posts in supporting Gaelic usage in communities. In particular, we want to support increased partnership working, better assessment of language outcomes and further professional training and support for officers.

Applications are welcomed from registered Scottish charities or community interest companies registered in Scotland who are looking to create a new post, or to extend an existing Gaelic development post.

The scheme is suitable for posts that will:

Support day-to-day use of Gaelic in communities
Further develop the rollout and implementation of community Gaelic language plans
Support Gaelic centres and activity within them
Engage in partnership working between organisations in delivering Gaelic services

In your application we expect you to expand on how your post will meet these aims. You should also be aware of the priorities and actions of Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s Corporate Plan 2023-28 and the National Gaelic Language Plan 2023-28.

Applications are welcomed for the period of 1 July 2025 to 31 March 2028, with a maximum grant available of £40,000 p.a. pro-rata (c. £110,000 in total). Please note that depending the strength of your application funding may be offered for 1 year only, 2 years only or the duration requested (up to March 2028).

Scope of the scheme

What type of posts will be supported?

This scheme will support posts which will create and deliver opportunities to use and learn Gaelic at a community level.

Your application should clearly show the types of activities the post will carry out, how the post will seek to grow Gaelic activity and engagement in the community and how you will record the difference the post makes in terms of Gaelic usage in your community.

Posts should also seek to connect with other organisations to co-ordinate activity and impact assessment as much as possible, and priority will be given to organisations working together.

Budget for the scheme

The estimated budget allocated to supporting posts via the Scheme is £600,000 per financial year. A further £30,000 per annum is allocated for supporting training and development opportunities for officers.

We expect that demand for support from the scheme will be beyond the level of support that we can provide and that the scheme will be competitive.

Scheme Timeframe

The scheme will support posts between 1 July 2025 and 31 March 2028. In most instances we expect the funding to begin from either 1 July 2025 (if someone is already in post) or when someone is appointed to the post, however if you are applying for an existing post that is funded beyond 1 July 2025 please contact Bòrd na Gàidhlig officers to discuss your application before submitting.

If applying for an extension of post already funded by the Gaelic Officers Scheme, you will receive extension support between 1 April 2025 and 30 June 2025 (if required) based pro-rata on your 2024/25 funding, and if your application is successful your new funding will begin from 1 July 2025 at the newly agreed amount.

If you are applying for a new post, or where a post is currently vacant, funding will begin on a pro-rata basis from the date that someone begins in the post.

Please note that depending on the strength of your application, you may be offered funding for 1-year, 2-years or the full duration requested (up to March 2028).

Who can apply?

This scheme is open only to registered Scottish charities or community interest companies with a registered office in Scotland. Organisations will also be required to define the community that they serve by geographical area. Your organisation must already be registered as a company or charity and have an active UK bank account at the time of application, or your application will be ineligible.

Organisations may submit a maximum of one application to the Scheme (except for organisations who are currently drafting a Gaelic community plan, who may submit up to two applications), although as part of the application you can apply for up to 2 part-time posts (up to 1 FTE) or one post operated as a job-share between two people.

The scheme is open to both organisations that received support from the Gaelic Officers Scheme between 2022 and 2025 as well as those that have not received support previously who wish to support a new or existing post.

Who cannot apply?

Individuals
Public or local authorities, schools, or organisations where local authorities are the sole members/directors
Commercial or for-profit organisations
Bòrd na Gàidhlig Delivery Partners (or organisations in receipt of grant funding from them such as local Fèisean or local branches of An Comunn Gàidhealach)

What costs are supported?

You may request support towards salary, employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs), employer pension contributions, project costs, training/development/access costs and any other reasonable costs relating to the post.

You can request funding for up to 100% of supported costs above (up to £40,000 p.a. pro-rata), however applications that demonstrate that match funding or other income will be sought to supplement Bòrd na Gàidhlig funding will be prioritised, as would applications that show normalisation of the post costs within the organisation’s existing budget, and we cannot guarantee that full funding will be provided if requested.

Where you are applying for a part-time role, the maximum request will be based pro-rata on the FTE level multiplied by £40,000 per annum (e.g. for an 0.5 FTE post up to £20,000 per annum).

As a guide, we will provide up to a maximum of £5,000 (as part of the £40,000 maximum) p.a. towards agreed officer programme activity. If you currently have an active Taic Freumhan Coimhearsnachd grant, you can only request support for project costs for the period after the Taic Freumhan Coimhearsnachd project is completed.

What costs cannot be supported?

You cannot use the grant from this scheme for the following:

Salaries or post costs for anyone other than the postholder
Organisation start-up or running costs
Capital costs

You must ensure throughout the funded period that the post’s salary, NICs and pension are not funded by money from other Bòrd na Gàidhlig funding schemes, the Gaelic Arts Fund run by Fèisean nan Gàidheal or contributions from Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s Delivery Partners.

Other notes on income/expenditure

Where possible, the officer’s programme of activity should aim to generate a level of income (e.g. fees for Gaelic classes, parental contributions towards activities, tickets for concerts/events) and we may set conditions on our funding that a minimum level of income is received through such contributions if your application is successful.

Along with your budget, you should note any in-kind/volunteer costs as part of a contribution towards total costs. Any in-kind support for volunteered time can be calculated with a minimum value of the real Living Wage or an appropriate industry rate, if available and relevant.

Organisational requirements

You must identify in the application who the line manager of the postholder will be, and provide details about how the line manager will provide oversight and support.

The salary that you pay to the officer is for you to determine based on your current pay arrangements, the work you expect them to undertake and the officer’s expected experience/qualifications. However, in all cases the rate of salary paid by your organisation across all posts must meet or exceed the real Living Wage to comply with the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy. The rate of the real Living Wage (currently £12.60 per hour) is updated each year in October to take effect the following April, and we will notify you of any changes to this.

Monitoring and evaluation

If your application is successful, you will need to monitor and evaluate the officer’s activity and show how the post is achieving the impact in promoting further use, learning and/or awareness of Gaelic in your community.

In the application form we’ll ask you how you intend to monitor the officer’s work, the outcomes you hope to achieve, what Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you would propose to assess whether those outcomes have been realised, and how you will gather feedback from participants. These outcomes and KPIs should show year-on-year improvement in the impact of the post.

Bòrd na Gàidhlig will work through the assessment of applications and awarding grants to co-ordinate KPIs across different organisations to ensure consistency among funded posts and that the scheme’s overall impact can be clearly measured and demonstrated.

All funded organisations will be required to submit reports every six months to Bòrd na Gàidhlig (at the end of January and end of July). These reports will be expected to summarise activity that has taken place, progress towards agreed KPIs and an overview of income and expenditure relating to the post and other information. We may request evidence from you as part of the reports or as a follow-up to the report, including but not limited to P60s/payslips, receipts and invoices.

We will also ask you to provide both quantitative and qualitative information regarding your activity and feedback from community members to show the impact of the post on Gaelic in the community.

Reports will be available to submit via the Fluxx application portal at https://bng.fluxx.io, and a template for these will be viewable if your application is approved.

We will aim throughout the scheme to have meetings with the postholder and any other relevant officer from your organisation to discuss your progress and gather feedback.

Acknowledgment

As a public body it’s important to us that the public know where our funding is spent, and that’s why it’s important that you acknowledge where appropriate that Bòrd na Gàidhlig provided funding for your project.

If your application is successful, we will require you to acknowledge Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s support in any advertisements of posts funded by the Scheme, and as appropriate through any news or social media releases of the officer’s activity.

We’ll ask you in the application how you intend to acknowledge our support throughout the grant duration if your application is successful and you must evidence how you have acknowledged our support in your reporting.

For further information please read our Acknowledgement Guidance and our Brand Guidance on our website.

Postholder requirements

We expect postholders who receive support through the Gaelic Officers Scheme will meet the following essential criteria, and that any job advertisements include the following essential and desirable criteria:

Essential

Fluent Gaelic speaker with good writing and reading ability in Gaelic and English
Right to work in the United Kingdom
A member of the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme (if the postholder would carry out activity that would make the post a “regulated role”, e.g. involves working with or running events for children or vulnerable adults)

Desirable

Previous experience in a Gaelic officer/community development role
A degree or relevant qualifications in Gaelic, community development, or other relevant subject

In post

It is expected that postholders will take part in Gaelic Officers Network meetings arranged by Bòrd na Gàidhlig or relevant organisations. These may be held online or face-to-face as appropriate.

It is also expected that postholders will commit to professional development when opportunities arise. Bòrd na Gàidhlig, in partnership with other organisations, will make opportunities available throughout the life of the Scheme and you will be expected as an organisation to permit and facilitate postholders to take part. It is expected that further information will be published on this around the time that decisions on funding applications are made.

Submitting an application

Applications should be submitted via our Fluxx application portal at bng.fluxx.io. An account can be registered for free on the website and it is possible to save the progress of an application whilst working on it. All supporting documents can be submitted via the portal.

The application portal will close at 3pm on Thursday 5 June 2025 and it will not be possible to submit an application after this date unless permission has been provided prior to the deadline by Bòrd na Gàidhlig officers.

Your application should be submitted by someone with the authority within your organisation to do so, typically a manager, director or trustee.

Detailed support is available on our website as to what information we are looking for from each question.

We recommend beginning your application at least a week in advance of the submission deadline to allow you to get in touch if you have any issues with the portal or have any questions about the application. We can be reached by email at tabhartas@gaidhlig.scot.

When submitting your application, you must include up-to-date versions of the required supporting documents, as follows:

Essential

A (draft) job description for the post(s)
Constitution or Memorandum and Articles of Association
Most recent annual accounts and/or report to OSCR
Child Protection or Safeguarding policy
List of board or committee members
A copy of your organisation’s employer’s liability insurance (except for organisations with no current staff)

Recommended (if available)

Gaelic policy
Latest annual report
Equal opportunities or Equalities, diversity and inclusion policy
Environmental policy or statement
Letters of support from other organisations in the community

Applications which do not provide the required supporting documents will be declared ineligible and will not be assessed.

It is also essential that your organisation has an active UK bank account, in the name of the organisation, at the time of submitting the application. If your organisation is in the process of applying for the opening of a bank account, your organisation is ineligible to apply.

Bòrd na Gàidhlig has a responsibility to promote good practice in:

Reducing impact on the environment
Promoting equality of opportunity for those with a protected characteristic under the Equalities Act 2010
Promoting opportunities for young people who are, or have been, in care under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014

We would like the organisations and projects that we fund to also consider how their work can contribute to these aims and will ask in the application form how your proposed project will seek to do so.

For further information, please consult the links below:

Fair Work

Organisations in receipt of public funding in Scotland are required to adhere to the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First policy, and as such must:

Pay at least the real Living Wage to all staff and contractors over the age of 16; and
Provide appropriate channels for effective workers’ voice, such as trade union recognition

You will be asked as part of your application and reporting to confirm that you are adhering to the policy and provide evidence of doing so.

Further guidance as to how Bòrd na Gàidhlig is implementing the Fair Work First policy is available here, and guidance from the Scottish Government on the policy is available here

How we will process and decide upon your application

You will receive an automatic email acknowledgment from the Fluxx portal to confirm that we have received your application. If you do not receive this, please check that you have submitted the application rather than only saving the application.

After the closing date for applications, Bòrd na Gàidhlig officers will then screen applications to ensure they comply with the rules of the fund and have provided necessary information. If your application is deemed ineligible, you will be asked to correct this. If your application is not fully compliant with the rules of the fund by Thursday 12 June 2025 your application may be declined without assessment.

Bòrd na Gàidhlig may request additional information or clarification of project details as part of the assessment process. If this additional information is not submitted within 5 working days of being requested we reserve the right to decline your application.

All eligible applications will be assessed by a panel of Bòrd na Gàidhlig officers.

Applications will be assessed individually in the first instance as to how well they meet the following criteria:

Suitability of the post against criteria on page 1
The impact of the proposed outcomes of the officer’s work on Gaelic usage in the community
How clearly the application sets out how partnership working will take place between the officer and other community-based organisations
Providing value for money for the grant requested (considering any match-funding provided from other sources)
Capacity of the organisation/officer to deliver the activity presented
Ability to monitor and report on progress (taking into account any track record of previous reporting)
Compliance with Social Responsibilities criteria

Detailed guidance as to how applications will be assessed can be found on Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s website.

Based on this assessment, the panel will meet and make recommendations to the Bòrd na Gàidhlig Senior Management Team. The SMT will then aim to ensure an appropriate national geographic coverage of officer posts, with consideration given to the number and density of Gaelic speakers in given areas as determined by the 2022 Scottish Census, before finalising our recommendations.

These proposals will then be presented to Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s Board (or a delegated committee) for final decision.

You will be informed of the result of your application via email in late June or early July 2025.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your application, while we do not offer an appeal process you may make a complaint if you believe your application has not been dealt with in accordance with this guidance and the assessment guidance. For more information, our complaints handling procedure is detailed online here.

Successful applications

If you are awarded funding, you will receive an initial notification from Bòrd na Gàidhlig via email of the amount that has been awarded and whether funding is offered for 1-year, 2-years or up to March 2028.

A funding agreement for year 1 will then be sent via Docusign to your nominated signatories to sign the acceptance and complete a Fair Work Declaration. You will have up to 30 days from the date of issue to sign and return the funding agreement or the offer shall be withdrawn.

The first funding tranche will be paid to you in summer 2025 after your acceptance of the agreement and submission of reports for 2024/25 Gaelic Officers Scheme agreements (if applicable) or confirmation of appointment (if a new post). Thereafter payments will be made to you after submission and approval of progress reports, subject to your attainment of KPIs and compliance with conditions and requirements set out in your funding agreement.

Award letters for years 2 and 3 will be issued in due course (if applicable), subject to your successful delivery of your programme and achievement of relevant KPIs.

If support is only offered for 1 year or 2 years, you will have an opportunity to apply for further support in early 2026/early 2027.

Unsuccessful applications

If your application is unsuccessful, we will write to explain to you the reasons for the decision, and we will be happy to discuss alternative forms of support.

If you have previously received support from the Gaelic Officers Scheme in 2024/25, and a postholder is in place at the time of the decision, we will provide a pro-rata extension to your most recent funding agreement until 31 August 2025 and we will work with you to provide appropriate support.

More information

For more information about this fund, please visit the Bòrd na Gàidhlig website or contact Bòrd na Gàidhlig at tabhartas@gaidhlig.scot.

You can find answers to frequently asked questions about the operation of the scheme here, and more general answers to frequently asked questions about our funding on our website.

Privacy information relating to our funding schemes can be found on our website.

Alternative forms of this guidance and application forms can be made available on request and may be published at: https://www.gaidhlig.scot/en/funding/funding-schemes/gaelic-officers-scheme/