Posted by jonathanfullarton - May 21, 2020 12:10 pm Charity support during Covid-19

The Culture Secretary, Oliver Dowden has announced additional help for charities during Covid-19. A further £150 million raised via dormant bank and building societies (accounts which have remained untouched for 15 years) is now being put to good use to support urgent charity work.

This includes:

  • tackling youth unemployment,
  • expanding access to emergency loans for civil society organisations and,
  • helping to improve the availability of fair, affordable credit to people in vulnerable circumstances.

The Rt Hon Oliver Dowden, said of this initiative: “Charities and social enterprises are playing a vital role in our national effort against coronavirus.  This funding will support organisations that are at the heart of their communities, building on our unprecedented package of financial support for the voluntary sector.  Through our proposals to further expand the dormant assets scheme, we want to unlock hundreds of millions more pounds for good causes, while keeping customer protection at the heart of the programme”.

How the money will be split

The £150 million is being split as follows:

  • £10 million for the Youth Futures Foundation.  This will help organisations who support unemployed and disadvantaged young people across the country get back into employment. The Youth Futures Foundation will be launching an Emergency Levelling Up Youth Fund to:
    • support young people from hardest hit communities;
    • and expand their Development and Impact grants programme to rapidly increase youth employment provisions.
  • £45 million provided to the Big Society Capital.  This will assist with better access to investment including emergency loans for charities, social enterprises and some small businesses facing cash-flow problems and disruption to their trading following the coronavirus outbreak.
  • £65 million will be provided to Fair4All Finance to support affordable credit providers. This will increase access to fair, appropriate products and services for those struggling financially. This includes an expanded Affordable Credit Scale-up Programme and other initiatives for those in financially vulnerable circumstances.
  • Finally, a £30 million will be provided to Access – The Foundation for Social Investment who will support social enterprises helping people in vulnerable circumstances. Access will make up to £10 million available for emergency support through social lenders whilst developing a wider programme of recovery finance for the social sector.

How has the money been claimed?

Back in 2011, 30 businesses, including all major high street banks, started to voluntarily transfer funds from accounts that have been inactive for 15 years into the scheme.  To date more than £600 million has been distributed to good causes.

What other support is available?

Urgent: Chancellor Rishi Sunak has previously announced a £750 million of funding to help charities during the pandemic.  This includes £200 million of funding in England under the Coronavirus Community Support package, which is being distributed by the National Lottery Community Fund.  Please note that applications will open at 10am tomorrow, Friday 22 May. 

The National Lottery Community Fund website states that:

“The Fund has two key objectives:

  1. To increase community support to vulnerable people affected by the COVID-19 crisis, through the work of civil society organisations.
  2. To reduce temporary closures of essential charities and social enterprises, ensuring services for vulnerable people impacted by COVID-19 have the financial resources to operate, and so reduce the burden on public services.

Grants will allow organisations to meet service costs, where they are experiencing increased demand and/or short-term income disruption. Grants will also allow organisations to refocus services to address more immediate beneficiary needs in light of COVID-19”.

Further details on this fund and how to apply will be posted on this site from 10am tomorrow – Friday 22nd May.

Further government advice on how organisations can apply to the £750 million charity support package can be viewed here.

Community Interest Companies (CICs)

In addition to the above, the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies has been looking at alternatives to paper filing during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The Regulator has established an online service where you can:

  • Incorporate a CIC
  • File your accounts
  • File your confirmation statement

For more details bout this visit our dedicated blog post on Community Interest Companies

If you are a charity and need support with funding or other matters then please contact your local MFW partner using the Covid-19 contacts details as outlined at the top of our contact page.

For more details on the services we provide to charities please visit our specialist charity information.