By Clive Wakley. Whilst Cameron and his millionaires club cabinet ringfence foreign aid, how will Britain’s charities fare in the face of local government cuts?
Research published earlier this week revealed that more than 2,000 charities across England have either had their funding cut or withdrawn altogether by local authorities, in a bid to achieve an estimated saving of more than £110 million.
The study by an “anti-cuts” group was compiled from responses to more than 250 Freedom of Information requests sent to local councils across the country.
In the South East region only six councils indicated that they do not intend making any cuts to charity funding; these being Dartford, Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells, Eastbourne, Swale and Gravesham.
However Medway Council is reported as planning to reduce payments to no fewer than 18 local charities – including Crime Stoppers, West Kent Housing, Home-Start Medway and the Ashdown Medway Accommodation Trust.
Many of the charities facing cuts are those aimed at helping young people, particularly in jobs and housing.
Meanwhile Sevenoaks, Maidstone, Ashford, Dover, Hastings and Wealdon councils all intend cuts in Citizens’ Advice Bureau (CAB) funding.
This is particularly worrying as only as recently as March the Medway CAB reported that debt and house repossession rates in the Medway towns had reached record levels; reflecting a similar situation across the entire region.
A CAB spokesperson commented that it was seeing more than 60 people each week with collective debts of more than £2 million and said staff were already struggling to meet demand from the growing number of clients seeking advice.
In the Midlands, Birmingham City Council has announced it intends making cuts in funding to a whole raft of charities.
These include organisations supporting disabled people and children.
The city has cut or ended funding totaling £15 million for 191 different charitable and community groups, as it attempts to save £212 million overall in expenditure in the current financial year.
Included amongst the cuts are a £31,000 reduction in funding for Action for Blind People, £60,000 for Cerebral Palsy (Midlands) and £32,000 for the Queen Alexandra College in Harborne, which provides education for young people with visual disabilities or autism.
However Birmingham’s biggest victim, with a loss of £2.5 million in support funding, is the Birmingham Disability Consortium, which helps get disabled people into work.
Birmingham City Council has also hit services for the elderly, with Shencare Community Transport, which provides transport services for elderly people, losing £34,000.
In addition, children’s charity Action for Children, which provides a range of services including support for young carers, lost £296,000, while Barnardo’s lost £65,000.
In Yorkshire and the Humber region, some charities have had their county council funding completely cut and others are facing major reductions, as local authorities tighten their purse strings.
The NSPCC has seen its funding from North Yorkshire County Council drop from £190,000 in the last financial year by £124,000 this year, with funding for Selby family support completely cut and funding for Almond Tree reduced.
North Yorkshire Youth, which provides leisure grants for voluntary youth organisations, has had its £170,000 funding for 2010/11 cut by £20,000.
Meanwhile Selby District Council is reported as making “substantial” cuts to eight charities, with Age Concern and Scouting in North Yorkshire suffering what have been described as “minor” reductions in funding.
It is important to note that these cuts are not limited to the nice-to-have groups in the voluntary and community sectors, but also to organisations providing vital services for older people trying to maintain independent lives, vulnerable children and abused women.
Over in the East Riding of Yorkshire it has been reported that the county council is to reduce its charities budget by a modest 1.25 per cent, from £22 million to £21 million.
In the South West, Bournemouth council has confirmed that despite its government grant being significantly less than originally suggested by the government, that it is in the fortunate position that it does not need to withdraw large scale funds from voluntary and charity sector organizations this year.
A spokesman for the council explained: “Our long-term prudent financial management meant that we have been able to put up significant funds for a rainy day and indeed we topped up funding to support vulnerable people this year with £3 million from our reserves.”
Meanwhile a spokesperson representing local charities has warned that donations from the public are falling as families have trouble making ends meet: “All cuts in household income affect charities, over the past 12 to 18 months there has been at least a ten per cent decrease in donations received from the public.”
In the North West, Rochdale Metropolitan Council has either withdrawn or intends to cut, funding to some 54 charities and community groups.
Included in the cuts is Victim Support with is set to lose £31,000 of its £57,000 support.
Furthermore some Rochdale charities are to have their funding completely withdrawn.
These are said to include the Moorland Children’s Home and Littleborough Old People’s Welfare, an organization that runs luncheon clubs and other services for the elderly.
Some charities, suffering funding shortages, are reported as intending to apply to the Duchy of Lancaster fund and Tesco’s for financial assistance.
Although it is certainly true that some charitable and voluntary organizations, those pandering to asylum and foreign causes for instance, should have their public funding reduced – if not actually withdrawn – the fact remains that cuts in local government funding, together with a fall in public donations, will mean that many worthy charities will struggle to continue to provide vital services in the community.
It is equally clear that local authorities should think long and hard before they reduce funding to charities dealing with vulnerable groups including disabled people, children and the elderly.
It is false economy to reduce funding to those charitable groups that provide essential services within the community, whose inability to function will inevitably impact on the NHS and other statutory services.
Before reducing funding to such worthwhile recipients councillors should look to making cuts elsewhere; councillors remuneration and expenses provide a suitable starting point.
Meanwhile whilst worthy charitable bodies, such as the Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, are forced to advertise for additional funding, Cameron and his wealthy cabinet cronies insist on ringfencing their multi-billion pound foreign aid budget.
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