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An emergency support package is vital for the not-for-profit, charity and social enterprise sector, according to civil society leaders.
The leaders are urging the Government to develop a package of financial support for #NeverMoreNeeded non-profit organisations ahead of the Budget in March.
Due to Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions, the sector is facing a financial hole, estimated to be at least £10bn for the year from the start of the crisis, and urges the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, to work towards supporting the vast financial losses.
The government’s £750m package of support announced last March was welcomed by charity leaders but was not enough to ensure they and similar organisations could continue to deliver essential services to those in need.
The representation also reiterates the sector’s Five Point Plan which sets out specific measures for how the government can support civil society in the medium and longer-term.
Sector leaders state: ‘…We ask you to deliver on your claim to make changes when necessary to ensure that this Budget delivers for social change organisations and the unique role they occupy in our economy to deliver public benefit.
‘Our sector is essential both to the immediate response to Covid-19 and to the medium and longer-term ambition to level up and build back better. Our nation needs our charities and social change organisations to play their part and your Budget must enable them to do so to.’
Sector leaders urged Treasury to meet with them to discuss the proposals in more detail and a specific financial sum that would form part of an emergency package.
The Charity Finance Group, which, along with other sector organisations, has asked for the emergency package, has also repeated its call for the government to create a coronavirus job retention scheme. It has partnered with Charity Tax Group to seek improvements to the tax system. These representations have also been made ahead of the Budget.
