THE total paid to victims of historic child abuse by Scotland’s Redress scheme has now surpassed £20 million.
Redress Scotland was created after legislation was passed in 2021 offering payments of up to £100,000 for victims of abuse in care.
A letter from Swinney to a Holyrood committee said that a total of 404 victims had received payouts, valued at £20.1, as of February 28.
In his letter to the Education, Children and Young People Committee, Swinney said the number of applications in February had almost doubled compared to the previous month.
“As of February 2023, a total of 2118 applications have been received”, he wrote.
“You will recall that during the evidence session on January 12, I advised the committee that we expected the throughput of applications being passed to Redress Scotland for determination to increase significantly in the coming months.
“I can confirm that in February 2023, 93 applications were passed to Redress Scotland: in comparison to 47 and 46 in December 2022 and January 2023 respectively.
“Total payments made to applicants now exceeds £20 million.”
In a statement released on Thursday, Swinney added: “I know this has been a long and difficult journey for many survivors and we remain committed to ensuring the scheme remains survivor-focused and trauma-informed.”
