NCVO has written to George Osborne ahead of the upcoming Budget calling for a second wave of transition funding for the sector.
The letter, co-signed by 14 charity and social enterprise umbrellas asks for further funding focused on early intervention in the most deprived areas in the UK and for support on social investment. It feeds-in information from a recent economic summit which NCVO held with key players across the voluntary and social enterprise sector.
On the need for early intervention funding, the letter states: “Preventing a problem from occurring is cost-effective and sustainable,” it says. “In Scotland, there is already a commitment to shift public spending towards more prevention.”
The government’s first transition fund helped charities and social enterprises which deliver public services, adapt to new forms of funding. It awarded around 1,000 organisations grants totalling £105m last year.
The group also calls for better tax incentives around social investment, using a recent NCVO-led report as evidence. They also voice warnings about levels of investment-readiness of charities and social enterprises, and call on government to work with the sector to address the issue.
Opportunities for change in giving
Giving is also addressed in the letter, with calls for the modernisation and simplification of administrative structures around giving, in particular gift aid and payroll giving.
NCVO supports calls for a universal online donor declaration system, which it says would reduce paper, workload and bureaucracy for both the sector and government.
And there are calls for action to increase payroll giving to the ‘Gold Standard’ of 10 per cent of employees, which would generate £265m each year, representing an extra £159m for charities.
Signatories to the letter include the heads of Acevo, Charity Finance Directors’ Group, Volunteering England, Navca, the Institute of Fundraising and Social Enterprise UK.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will give his budget statement on the 21st March.
The full list of signatories is:
- Sir Stephen Bubb, chief executive of Acevo
- Caron Bradshaw, chief executive of Charity Finance Directors’ Group
- Justin Davis Smith, chief executive of Volunteering England
- David Emerson, chief executive of the Association of Charitable Foundations
- Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO
- Vandna Gohil, chief executive of Voice4Change England
- Peter Holbrook, chief executive of Social Enterprise UK
- Joe Irvin, chief executive of Navca
- Peter Lewis, chief executive of Institute of Fundraising
- John Low, chief executive of Charities Aid Foundation
- Cliff Prior, chief executive of UnLtd
- David Robinson, chief executive of Community Links
- Caroline Slocock, chief executive of Civil Exchange
- Steve Wyler, chief executive of Locality
