East Lothian Partnership Key Achievements 2024-2025

We will work in partnership to achieve an even more prosperous, safe and sustainable East Lothian, with a dynamic and thriving economy that enables our people and communities to flourish.

Key achievements

In 2024-25 our key achievements include:

Adult and youth employment
The adult employment rate in Scotland as of March 2025 is 74% and in East Lothian it is higher at 84.4%.
24.9% of East Lothian residents aged 16 to 19 are in employment compared to Scottish average of 20.7%

Children's development
Only 6.84% of children were flagged with developmental or wellbeing concerns at 27 to 30 months which is down from 15.7%.

Living Wage Accreditation

Anchor institutions in East Lothian have signed up to be Real Living Wage employers. 81% of employees in East Lothian earn above the Real Living Wage.

Deliberate fires

Cases of deliberate fires have reduced by 48%.

Missing persons

The number of missing people has reduced by 40%.

Affordable homes

During 2024/25 there were a total of 136 affordable housing completions, of these 43 were East Lothian Council. 83 were completed for Registered Social Landlords. A further 10 properties were for mid-market rent.

Areas for improvement

Town centre vacancies

Town centre vacancies increased to 12%, more than double the target of 5%.

Community perceptions

Decline in:

feeling safe walking alone after dark, from 85% to 72%
trust in neighbours/friends for help, from 91% to 78%
perception of neighbourhood as a good place to live, from 98% to 93%

Poverty
22.1% of children in East Lothian live in households with less than 60% of median net household income after housing costs, compared to the Scottish average of 23%.

Suicide Rates

Death by suicide has increased by 15% since the 5 year average from 2014 to 2018. For the 2020 to 2024 period, this increased to 32.1 per 100,000 from 27.8.

Care where it's needed - in the community

The Musselburgh Meeting Centre has made a real difference for people living with dementia and their carers in East Lothian. Thanks to regular sessions and peer support, carers shared that they felt more supported and better prepared to manage their caring roles, which made a big impact on their wellbeing too. The project also helped raise awareness about dementia in the wider community encouraging a more inclusive and compassionate approach.

The Centre started in collaboration with Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP), Volunteer Centre East Lothian, Connected Communities, Musselburgh Area Partnership - Health & Wellbeing subgroup, Dementia Friendly East Lothian, Alzheimer Scotland, local GP practices and NHS, The Hollies, St Andrews Church and Family Carers and Peer Support Networks.

Working Together to Keep East Lothian Safe and Well

The East Lothian Multi Agency Tasking and Coordinating Group (ELTACG) meets every week, led by Police Scotland, to bring together local partners and share updates on individuals, incidents, fires, and anti-social behaviour. By teaming up, we can tackle issues early and make sure the right support is in place using resources where they're needed most. An example is multi agency approach to supporting a resident who had a fire in their house, with noted mental health, substance abuse and anti-social behaviour issues.

Partners include Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Fire and Rescue, MELD, NHS Lothian, and a range of East Lothian Council teams like Community Protection, Housing, Connected Communities, Licensing, Countryside Rangers, and Sports.

Increasing financial resilience

A client reached out after receiving a letter demanding over £72,000 for a mortgage shortfall from a property repossessed more than 11 years ago. They hadn't previously heard anything about this debt, despite living at the same address for 10 years. East Lothian Advice Consortium (ELAC) advised the client to send a letter stating the debt was likely prescription barred (too old to be enforced). The mortgage company continued to pursue the debt, so the client submitted a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Following a review of new evidence showing the company had sent letters to outdated or incorrect addresses, the FOS supported the client that the mortgage company should write off the £72,433.90 debt.

ELAC is a collaboration between Musselburgh and Haddington Citizens Advice Bureau, East Lothian Council Financial Inclusion and Housing Teams.