The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has reduced its funding for civil society by almost a quarter, according to its recently published accounts.
DCMS cut its funding for the Office for Civil Society (OCS) in the year to March 2022 was a tenth of the previous year's total. At £32m, this is the lowest amount the OCS has received since it was moved to the department in 2016.
The department’s overall funding for civil society was £740m in 2021-22, compared to £967m the year before and £1.02bn in 2016-17.
Meanwhile, DCMS received £883,000 during the year from the liquidated assets of the charity Kids Company, which closed in 2015.
Office for Civil Society funding stripped
The OCS’ funding fell to £32m in 2021-22, down from £386m the year before.
DCMS’ accounts state that the office’s funding in 2020-21 was unusually high due to “civil and youth initiatives announced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic”.
But the funding is lower than the £58m it received in 2019-20 and more than £100m lower than any of the three preceding financial years.
DCMS also forecasts that its funding for the office will remain below £50m in the next three years.
A government document published in 2020 outlined plans to “achieve efficiencies in the Office for Civil Society by rationalising work to better deliver the government’s priorities for the sector”.
Money for civil society down on the year
DCMS reported that its funding to civil society overall declined by 23% in the year, coming in at £740m in 2021-22.
This is the lowest amount it has put into the sector since 2017-18, when it gave £705m.
In 2016-17, the first year since the OCS moved to DCMS, civil society received more funding than either digital; arts, culture and libraries; media and creative industries or sports.
However, last financial year, sports (£1.17bn) and arts, culture and libraries (£1.03bn) both received more money than civil society.
DCMS argued that it was “misleading” to suggest that it has cut funding for the sector.
“We provided unprecedented levels of support for the sector during Covid-19, and figures have now returned to pre-pandemic levels,” a DCMS spokesperson said in a statement.
“Support for the civil society and youth sector remains a priority for the department and we will continue to provide much-needed assistance through a variety of funding programmes.”
DCMS spent £782m on civil society in 2019-20, 5% more than in the last financial year.
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