In September 2016, believing he had had a stroke some time previously which was affecting his ability to perform, Gaughan announced that he was cancelling all public performances until further notice. An MRI scan the next month confirmed the stroke, and in November of that year a benefit concert, featuring Aly Bain, Phil Cunningham, Billy Bragg, Karine Polwart and Eddi Reader, was held for him in Edinburgh. According to his booking agent, Gaughan entered a course of physiotherapy in February 2017 and will remain in physio and not performing "for the foreseeable future".