The year began with volunteers helping to deliver a manic government-led push for every adult in the country to get a Covid-19 booster vaccine. In January, St John Ambulance had once again partnered with the NHS to train and deploy thousands of members of the public to provide millions of vaccines to curb then-spiralling rates of Covid infections.
It was difficult to imagine at that time that the pandemic, and restrictions to slow its spread, would finally end any time soon. But, nearly 12 months on, things have changed.
While Covid is certainly not “over”, there have been no deaths reported in the UK since 19 November and other crises have emerged to which charities have attended.
In February, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the war that had been ongoing between the two countries for the past eight years. It resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and Europe’s largest refugee crisis since the Second World War.
Charities stepped in, with the Disasters Emergency Committee’s coalition of aid charities raising a record-breaking £61m in online donations within the first week of its campaign and nearly £400m to date. Volunteers from organisations such as the Ukrainian Red Cross have risked their lives offering support to people whose communities have been destroyed.
On home soil, charities including the newly-created Sanctuary Foundation helped the country welcome more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees in the months after the invasion.
Then there is the charity that sanctioned former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich said he would set up to support the war’s victims, but the organisation and its up to £2.5bn of start-up money are yet to appear.
Charities helped out again in September, after the Queen’s passing. Thousands of volunteers from the Scouts, Samaritans, British Red Cross, Salvation Army and other charities helped members of the public to pay their respects safely.
Throughout the year, charities have helped to rescue people making dangerous journeys to seek refuge in the UK and have offered support to those who have arrived. This week, RNLI volunteers rescued several people stranded off the coast of Dover but tragically four refugees lost their lives.
A crisis to end the year
Amid political turmoil towards the end of the year, charities have urged leaders to help them and their beneficiaries to survive the cost-of-living crisis.
Charities have set up “warm hubs” in churches, libraries and other buildings for people struggling to heat their homes this winter due to soaring energy prices.
Foodbanks have reported greatly increased usage and charities that previously met need elsewhere have opened their first.
And charities providing public services have reported subsidising contracts to do so.
With charities having to plug gaps in government support, it is not encouraging when some former members of the current government express ideological preferences for “family first, then community, then the state” regarding health and social care provision. Charities would perhaps fall under “community” of those categories, if any. Sentiments like that, echoed by a backbencher this year in reference to poverty, suggest some close to power are comfortable leaving charities and their beneficiaries to shoulder increasing need while only stepping in reluctantly themselves.
Amid endless firefighting, some in the sector have asked this year when the sector may turn more of its focus back to enriching people’s lives rather than merely supporting them to survive.
As need for charities’ services has risen, their income has dropped, with Greenpeace reporting thousands of cancelled regular donors over a month period.
The financial pressures have led many charities to use reserves to cover core costs, with most doing so according to a recent poll.
Age UK recently announced it will use £5m from its reserves to support its local subsidiaries during the winter, with fears more could close.
Staff members are also feeling the pinch, with those at charities including Shelter taking strike action to demand a pay rise that meets their increased outgoings.
Charities have long struggled to compete with the private and public sectors on pay but are now finding it even harder to attract and retain staff.
With pressure from all sides, the sector needs financial support from somewhere. Some foundations have stepped up to the plate by increasing grant amounts while others have removed restrictions on what charities can do with the money.
Commission chair Orlando Fraser, meanwhile, has urged the wealthiest people in society to give more to charities so they match their “equivalents in similar countries around the world”.
Energy bills announcement
Then, what about the government? At the root of some of the increased costs for charities and their beneficiaries is the energy crisis. The government is currently discounting charities and other organisations’ bills through its Energy Bill Relief Scheme until the end of March 2023. Under the scheme, supported wholesale energy prices have been reduced to less than half their previously anticipated level this winter.
But the sector is still waiting to hear what, if any, support it will receive from April next year.
HM Treasury initially announced, ominously, that “the overall scale of support the government can offer will be significantly lower” post-March and “targeted at the most affected”.
This suggests that some charities that the government judges to have higher energy bills – perhaps including hospices, community voluntary services, and those offering domestic violence and assisted living support – might continue to receive discounted bills while others will face hikes.
But in December, the Financial Times reported that chancellor Jeremy Hunt was considering extending energy support for all businesses (and charities) because it would be too complicated to decide which groups should benefit. This option would benefit the most charities but the level of support would be lower than currently across the board.
What also remains unclear is how long the post-March support will last. If it is for another year, as with the Energy Price Guarantee for households, this will offer some certainly but charities could be in the same situation next December.
Charities will also hope that the support will not come in the form of a loan, an idea prime minister Rishi Sunak previously flirted with as chancellor.
With the Treasury remaining tight-lipped, charities will have to wait until January at the earliest for its announcement. The department originally said its announcement would come by 31 December, but it has since postponed this to the new year.
On the plus side, Number 10 appears to be listening to the sector. Umbrella bodies have met government officials numerous times in recent weeks to argue the sector’s case while individual charities have shared the impact of energy prices on their organisation as part of business department’s call for evidence. When asked about post-March energy support in late December, Hunt said: “We are particularly concerned about the impact on charities who see their costs go up but without a corresponding ability to increase their income”.
Charities can only hope that the government acts on this professed concern as they wait hear what the post-March support shall look like. Whether it is good or bad news, the announcement should provide temporary clarity at least and enable charities to begin forward planning for the next financial year.
Silver linings?
It is difficult to pick out reasons for the sector to be optimistic for 2023 given the pressures and uncertainty it currently faces, but some charities are hopeful of a more productive relationship with the government front bench and regulators than they have recently experienced.
Stuart Andrew, the charities minister since early November, has already outlasted his predecessor and worked for hospices and healthcare charities before entering parliament.
Development minister Andrew Mitchell was also warmly welcomed by some in the sector when he was appointed, having previously held the role a decade earlier and seeming keen to restore the government’s recently-slashed aid budget.
Then there is Commission chair Fraser, who also took over his role from a short-lived predecessor and pledged to “stand up for charities” instead of automatically siding with media criticism.
Nurturing these relationships, as well as those with staff, supporters, and beneficiaries, may help charities to keep providing vital support for all those who will need it in 2023.
Today is Civil Society News' last bulletin of 2022. We will resume our news output on 3 January 2023. In the meantime, please email any suggestions or potential stories for the new year to: [email protected]
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include HM Treasury's delay to its review of the EBRS and comments made by the chancellor in late December.
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