Last week, the Chancellor’s Autumn statement was released, and National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) have responded that the ‘measures announced today will lead to poorer outcomes and widening inequalities in communities’.
Our Deputy Chief Executive, Siobhan O’Neill has given her thoughts on what the statement means for the North East and the VCSE sector in her blog below.
There’s been time for some of the detail to emerge from the headlines set out in the Chancellor’s recent statement and it isn’t pretty. Yes, we welcome the uplift in benefits, keeping these in line with inflation and raising some key areas of public spending over the next two years. However, there is no getting away from the fact that the next few years look bleak with the Office of Budgetary Responsibility reporting real household income falling more than 7% over the next two years, the biggest post war drop.
Here in the North East, we are likely to see even more people pushed into poverty. The measures announced are too little, and too late to mitigate the real pressures on how to make ends meet today and over this coming winter. Once again, our sector will need to step up. We need to continue to influence policy, pushing to see the Levelling Up agenda and devolution move forward, using our influence to make the case for change and the eradication of systemic inequalities and ensuring fairness and protection for the most vulnerable is uppermost in decision makers minds. We need to maintain the practical support that so many organisations provide within communities – food banks, warm zones and the other ‘safety net’ services our sector provides.
In doing this let’s hold onto our sectors values-based approach, our ability to be flexible and innovative in our responses to meet the needs of the people and communities we serve, supporting one another and championing the work we do.
Remember that VONNE helps its members too. In addition to using our position to raise the profile of the VCSE community ensuring it’s valued as an equal partner we can also help if you’re looking for support around innovation or digital. Please contact our Projects and Partnerships Officer, Georgia Goncalves for more information. And, if you’re a charity leader and you’re looking for some peer support then come along to our Membership+ CEO peer support and collaboration network (open to Gold and Silver Membership+ members).
The statement revealed tax rises and spending cuts worth billions of pounds, with the aim of mending the nations finances.
Read the key points from the Autumn Statement at a glance here.
You can read NCVO’s full response to the Autumn Statement here.