Many charities have reported feeling less safe delivering their services than three years ago as threats against them become “business as usual”, according to new research.
Asylum Matters and Praxis surveyed 209 charities with a range of causes for the report, published today, along with 125 individual charity workers and volunteers.
Some 72% of respondents said that they felt less safe delivering their services compared to three years ago.
Nearly two-thirds (65%) said they had altered their service delivery as a result of perceived threats or risk, while a smaller number reported cancelling events or avoiding making plans that may incur risk as a result of the political climate.
Some 47% had experienced actual threats or harassment because of the communities they work with, in the last three years.
Louise Calvey, executive director at Asylum Matters, said: “What stood out most is how hard charities of all kinds – from health charities and homelessness charities to refugee and migrants’ rights and LGBT+ organisations – are having to work to keep delivering their incredible services, while keeping their staff and volunteers safe.
“Charities who have always done so much on shoestring budgets are now having to divert the resources that could be doing good in our communities to deal with vile threats from a handful of extremists.”
Minnie Rahman, chief executive of Praxis, said: “For years, charities supporting refugees and migrants have raised the alarm that far-right threats against our service users, volunteers and staff are escalating, while the behaviour of some elected politicians gives cover to these threats.
“Our report shows how widespread this problem now is. We live in a democracy, where the right to civil society is essential, not only for holding government to account but to advocating for social change.
“It is nothing short of authoritarian to use threats and intimidation to stop charities speaking out for, supporting and representing the communities they serve.”
Bunham urged to ‘protect our charity workers’
Refugee and migrant support charities made up the biggest proportion of respondents, with 38% working in this area.
Researchers, who referenced the recent targeting of RNLI volunteers, found that some service users, volunteers and staff from a variety of charities had faced death threats, assaults, racist abuse, leaked addresses, and their families being threatened.
Their report concludes with an open letter to Andy Burnham, signed by all 334 respondents to the survey, calling on the prime minister to “protect our charity workers”.
It urges him to address the role of social media in spreading threats and to avoid referring to those threatening and assaulting people as “protestors”.
The report also recommends further condemnation of attacks against charities from the government and action to ensure clear mechanisms for combatting dis- or misinformation.
It urges a review of Charity Commission powers to enable the “rapid resolution of vexatious complaints without impact on charitable resources”.
The report also calls for the commission to be empowered to “remove personal information from the public domain including the names of office holders as a matter of urgency”.
While trustee details are published on the commission’s register for most charities, some have been removed in recent years due to potential safety risks.
