A group of charity leaders from across the sector have joined forces to urge the government to provide support to communities and charities affected by the cost-of-living crisis.

The CEO’s of NCVO and ACEVO, Sarah Vibert and Jane Ide, have issued a joint statement calling for “immediate financial support to be channelled to those who need it most”.

The pair have been joined by over 45 voluntary sector infrastructure and charity CEOs, including CFG’s Caron Bradshaw, SCVO’s Anna Fowlie, Charity Comms’ Adeela Warley.

“We are calling on government to urgently deliver meaningful financial support to those in greatest need, directly to households and through the benefits systems that already exist to provide that support,” the statement said.

“We are also calling on government to provide targeted financial support for those charities and voluntary organisations that are on the frontline of supporting people through this crisis, and to ensure that charities, voluntary and community organisations are included in any plans to provide support to businesses,” the leaders added.

The cost-of-living crisis is being caused by high inflation, which has risen to above 10%, as a result of high energy and food prices. Many households will plunge into debt this winter as the cost of energy becomes unaffordable for a huge proportion of the UK.

But charity leaders have warned charities are facing the same increases, whilst simultaneously suffering from income drops as donors cancel direct debits and reduce their offers of goods.
“Many organisations are selling essential community facilities because they cannot afford to keep buildings open or are expecting to close badly needed services altogether.

“They are seeing ever greater demands made of them to fill the gap as public services, the NHS, and local authorities especially, struggle to deliver adequate services to communities. All the while the real value of their income drops against the inflationary pressures of running their organisations.

“Stepping up in a crisis to support communities is what charities and voluntary organisations do best – we saw this during the pandemic. Yet charities have already drawn on their reserves, they have already become as lean and agile as they can possibly be, and they have not had the chance to recover. Many charities and voluntary organisations have little or nothing left to see them through this second tsunami of need.

“This is going to be a tough winter for everyone, but for those in greatest need it will be catastrophic. It is essential that urgent action is taken to support those individuals, and to ensure that they are able to access the help that they will need to get them through.”

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