SWBG blog

At the Scottish Women’s Budget (SWBG) we work towards changing the way that public spending decisions are made. Our work shows that it’s critical to recognise the different challenges women and men face when budgets are allocated.

A key element of gender budgeting is providing opportunities for the public, particularly women, to participate in the budget process. We want people to feel more engaged in this process, to share their experiences and feel empowered, helping to create budgets that consider the different lives of women and communities across Scotland. 

It’s important that the public can provide feedback on the budget process, highlighting where adjustments can be made. We also understand that participation begins with understanding. That’s why we’re detailing how the budget process works and at what stage you can share your experiences to shape where money is spent. 

This helps ensure that those affected by the budget, including those more reliant on public services, can help ensure effectiveness and fairness. It also helps build trust between governing bodies and the public. This helps include the voices of more marginalised groups in changes and considers the lived experience of the public. 

Additionally, the way budget decisions are communicated is important for increasing the transparency of budget processes and supporting wider participation. The budget process should be an opportunity for governments and local authorities to be clear about their priorities, what they are trying to achieve with their spending decisions, and why. This can include setting out the challenges and constraints, and the principles or values underpinning the decisions made. 

However, responses from the 2026 Women’s Survey also highlighted that only 30 percent of 830 women who answered were aware of opportunities to engage with the budget at a national level.

Each year, the Scottish Government sets out its spending plans in the Scottish Budget. The budget outlines how much money will be spent between 1 April and 31 March on public services and policy areas. Since the Scottish Government has responsibility for devolved matters, it decides how funding is allocated across these areas, including:

• Schools
• Hospitals
• Policing
• Certain social security benefits
• The economy
• Climate change
• The environment

The Scottish Government website states that it is “accountable to the Scottish Parliament and to the people of Scotland for its use of public money.” We know that the Scottish Parliament scrutinises the budget, but where do the people of Scotland fit into the process? Can the public give feedback on how public money is spent – money that is partly raised through taxation and that directly affects their lives? 

They can give feedback in some areas, and others they can’t. Alongside this, people’s ability to engage can be influenced by what information they have access to.

This is important to highlight as the process is poorly publicised, limited and isn’t as inclusive as it should be. Feedback is primarily sought by parliamentary committees rather than directly from the Scottish Government, which limits its potential influence. 

Alongside this, most people aren’t made aware of how and when they can be involved in this process. Often, it includes language that isn’t accessible, limiting people’s understanding and preventing them from participating. 

When and how are decisions about the budget made

The budget covers a range of areas and involves distributing billions of pounds. The decisions that are made to ensure the budget is balanced, the expenditure is equal to the revenue, can be complex and this is one of the reasons it’s created throughout the year. 

Each year, the budget goes through several stages of development, scrutiny and debate. You can find out what each of these stages, referred to as milestones, is on the Scottish Government website.

Between May and February, there are three key points when the public can engage in the process.

Pre-Budget Scrutiny is the stage at which the public is most directly able to provide input. However, it is not always presented as a key opportunity for public participation. This reduces the number of people who are informed on the process and subsequently the number of contributions given by the public.

Pre-budget scrutiny is carried out by Scottish Parliament committees, with the Finance and Public Administration (FPA) Committee playing a lead role. Committees are “groups of MSPs from all political parties and form an important part of the Parliament’s scrutiny of the elected parliament.” This year, there are 17 committees altogether. The committees for the current parliamentary session and their make-up can be found here. 

The FPA committee aims to influence the budget through conversations with ministers, public bodies and other stakeholders. They may also bring in written evidence or public feedback as part of this process, considering how costs are being funded and what is being implemented and achieved from it. 

At what stage of the pre-budget scrutiny can the public provide feedback? 

The pre-budget scrutiny period can vary each year, but Committees usually hold consultations in mid to late summer. Sometimes these are open to individuals and organisations to share evidence on the themes chosen by the committee.

Our work with women shows that information about the consultation process isn’t made obvious for many people, as it isn’t publicised as well as it could be, highlighted in our Budget Process Briefing. We’ve heard that the questions asked can be technical, leaving people confused and intimidated by the process. While it isn’t essential to answer every question, it’s still important that those engaging with the material understand it, instead of leaving people feeling disenfranchised from the process.

Another way to share your thoughts on the budget is when committees undertake consultations throughout the year. So, if there’s a specific issue you’re concerned about, it’s worth checking the relevant committee page to see if you can inform them directly with your concerns. For example, if you have a concern about social care budgets or spending on women’s health, it’s useful to check the Health and Social Care Committee pages for an opportunity to feed in pages for an opportunity to feed in. 

At the time of publishing this blog, two pre-budget scrutiny calls were open by Scottish Parliament Committees and those working in the public sector are encouraged to respond.

The Finance and Public Administration Committee and the Public Service Reform Committee. 

There are other ways that the public can feed into the process, but this isn’t as structured or direct. One example of this is when the Scottish Government runs public consultations on specific tax and spending proposals. Since these can be run at any time, it’s harder to keep up with dates, but when they are available, they can be found on the Scottish Government website. 

One of the final formal opportunities to influence the budget process comes during Stage 1. At this stage, certain organisations are invited to provide evidence and input – including organisations such as the Scottish Women’s Budget Group, which has contributed in previous years. 

While individuals do not usually present evidence directly at this stage, organisations represent their members and communities by advocating for the issues and policy changes they support. 

Some organisations will host events asking the public to share their thoughts, which the organisation will feed back to Parliament. For information on future events like this at SWBG, sign up for our newsletter. 

While these opportunities can feel intimidating, technical and require improvements, it’s important that the public takes part where possible. This ensures the budget considers the lived experiences of those who are impacted by budgets.

We encourage women from all backgrounds to share their views directly with decision-makers, raising issues that are important. However, we also know it takes time, something many of us are short of. We want to provide opportunities for you to raise issues that matter to you, which SWBG can effectively advocate for ahead of the budget. Our annual women’s survey is a key part of this, but we also hold a member’s session to inform pre-budget scrutiny. Become a member today for updates on becoming involved.

We’ve been working with women across Scotland on gender budgeting to keep more women informed. We’ve run regular sessions going through the entire Scottish Budget process, supporting women to understand it better and how they can feed into the process. Read more about participants’ thoughts here.