The ILF Scotland Coming Home Fund

Coming Home Fund

The Scottish Government and COSLA published the updated Coming Home Action Plan in March 2026, which aims to support people with learning disabilities and complex support needs to:

• move from long-stay hospital or inappropriate care settings back to their communities close to family and friends
• remain in their own home where their current support is at risk of breaking down or move to alternative, suitable accommodation

Everyone has the right to live in their own home, connected to the people and communities that matter to them. The ILF Scotland Coming Home Fund plays an important role in supporting disabled people to realise these rights and enable them to live independently.

Who is the Coming Home Fund for?

To be eligible for Coming Home funding, a person must:

• live in Scotland, or be temporarily placed outside of Scotland for care and support purposes
• be on the Dynamic Support Register (DSR), Red category, which indicates the highest priority level on the Register
• have a primary diagnosis of a learning disability

The application for funding should support one of the following:

• discharge from hospital
• return from an inappropriate placement
• remain in the community

All applications should be supported by:

• a current comprehensive Personal Action Plan,based on a recent individual Register Review Meeting, involving the person and their family where appropriate, and other relevant stakeholders
• a costed Service Specification / Discharge Plan, which should confirm specific barriers to living in the community that ILF Scotland funding could help to overcome

What can Coming Home funding be used for?

Coming Home funding can be used in a variety of ways to support independent living including:

• care and support arrangements
• discharge planning, transitional and short-term costs related to enabling someone to move from hospital or other inappropriate care settings
• addressing practical barriers to discharge from hospital or other inappropriate settings
• additional support to allow individuals to remain in the community

What the funding cannot normally be used for:

Coming Home funding will not normally fund the cost of support or services that are the responsibility of another public body, for example, the local authority / HSCP, such as:

• medical or nursing care
• residential care costs
• everyday living costs such as food or clothing
• large-scale capital investment such as buildings or developments

Applying to the Coming Home Fund

Applications to the Coming Home Fund should be submitted by local authorities on behalf of potential Recipients. Potential Recipients will already be known to their local authority. Each local authority will have its own approach for identifying and prioritising potential Recipients.

If a family member wishes to explore funding on behalf of a relative, they should contact their local authority in the first instance. Find the contact details for your local authority on our website.

All applications will be assessed by ILF Scotland on a case-by-case basis.

The Independent Living Fund Scotland is a public body that administers social care funding for disabled people in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Contact us

ILF Scotland
Ground Floor, Denholm House,
Almondvale Way Livingston EH54 6GA

T: 0300 200 2022

E: enquiries@ILF.scot

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ILF Scotland Limited is a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland. Company Number SC500075. Registered Office Ground Floor, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston, EH54 6GA.