Scotland’s First Home Fund runs out of money just days after launching – Daily Record

A scheme set up to help first-time buyers get on the property ladder has run out of cash just days after launching.

The First Home Fund, a Scottish Government initiative, opened for applications on April 1 with a budget of £60 million.

However, after just five working days it has been forced to close after the funding for people to buy their first home was used up.

The scheme was open to all first-time buyers across the country and can be used to buy a new build property or one that has already been constructed.

The shared equity pilot plan gives buyers up to £25,000 to help them purchase a home.

This years fund was slashed to from £200m to just £60m this year, however it has now run out of cash, the Press and Journal revealed.

The Scottish Government said the Financial Transactions budget in 2021-22 was cut by almost two thirds due to the Westminster government’s Spending Review.

A Scottish Government spokesman added: “The First Home Fund has now closed to new applications as the allocated 2021-22 budget for the fund has been fully committed.

 

Insight: Is another exam crisis brewing in Scotland? – The Scotsman

WHEN Eve McTiernan heard Nicola Sturgeon say there was no requirement for senior pupils to sit prelims or exams this year – a message also publicly promoted by the Scottish Qualifications Authority – her reaction was one of disbelief.

“To be honest, I laughed,” she says. Eve, who is a sixth year pupil at Kilsyth Academy, is crashing three Highers: French, Politics and PE, and needs at least one B to take up her conditional place to study politics at Glasgow University.

Despite the Scottish government’s pronouncements, she already has her timetable of what may officially be termed ‘assessments’ – but which, to her, look very much like exams.