Last week, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled the contents of his Spring Budget to the House of Commons, with a focus on boosting business investment and encouraging individuals to return to work. But will the VCSE sector see any benefit from the Spring Budget, at a time when so many organisations are reporting serious concerns about the cost-of-living, fundraising and support available?
Thankfully the Chancellor announced significant additional funding, including:
- £100m to support charities with service delivery and energy efficiency
- £63m to support leisure centres with cost pressures (including energy efficiency)
- £10m to provide grant funding to VCSE organisations focussing on suicide prevention projects
NCVO commented that they are, ‘delighted the Chancellor recognised the vital role that charities play in supporting communities’ however, they’re ‘also raising concerns that there still isn’t enough local government funding to cover the cost of charities delivering public services. We don’t think planned increases in departmental budgets will be enough to keep pace with inflation.’
In addition to the VCSE support outlined above, the Chancellor also announced £400m for 20 new Levelling Up Partnerships, including Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and South Tyneside who were amongst those described as being ‘most in need of levelling up’.
You can read NCVO’s reflections on the budget and what it could mean for voluntary organisations here.
Reacting to the Budget, Charity Tax Group (CTG) Chair, Richard Bray, said: “Charities are doing a tremendous amount to support society, particularly at the local level, in these challenging times. The announcement of £100 million of support for charities and community organisations is welcome, although this is targeted support for certain organisations in England. It is also encouraging to see £10 million of grant funding towards addressing mental health and suicide prevention. But charities throughout the UK are facing a perfect storm of diminishing donations, increasing operating costs and – as the Chancellor recognised – rising demand for their services. Wider support is urgently needed to sustain charities in this challenging environment. It is disappointing that more direct support was not included in the Budget. This was a lost opportunity. CTG believes that the tax system needs positive change to support charities.” Read CTG's full response in their newsletter here.
Within the budget, the Chancellor announced further plans for devolution and their intent to withdraw power from local enterprise partnerships (LEP) by April 2024. Responding to these plans, Colin Bell, Business and Sector Growth Director at the North East LEP said, ‘in the North East, the mentioned transition of Local Enterprise Partnership functions is already underway under the region’s devolution deal and we look forward to working with stakeholders across the region to transfer the LEP’s functions into the new North East Mayoral Combined Authority and to represent and strengthen the North East’s business voice locally and nationally.”
Read the full North East LEP response to the Budget here.
Finally, NAVCA (National Association for Voluntary and Community Action) have published a short, downloadable policy briefing on the Budget, outlining the cost of living measures and Levelling up agenda with direct relevance to their members. You can access and download the briefing here (Spring Budget 2023 publication).