Sector confidence in the financial outlook for the next 12 months has apparently plumbed new depths, with 98 per cent of charity leaders that responded to the NCVO’s latest Charity Forecast Survey expecting economic conditions to be negative.

The feedback from the 80 respondents, who comprise chief executives, directors, trustees or senior managers in the sector, contrasts sharply with a similar poll published this week by Rathbone Investment Management.  In that survey, just 30 per cent of the 275 trustees polled said they thought the economic outlook was broadly negative.

The results of the NCVO study add up to what the umbrella body described as “the bleakest outlook in the survey’s three-year history, with confidence levels lower than they were at the height of the recession”.

Respondents also demonstrated falling confidence in their organisation’s general situation and finances and the UK economy as a whole.  One said the current environment was “the most challenging time for income generation in the last 30 years”.

Thirty per cent expected to have to cut staff over the next three months.