Charities
and voluntary organisations in every area do a great job supporting local
communities. Yet I know, from talking to both volunteers and charity staff,
that things are getting harder, not easier, under this government.
At the last general election, David Cameron put the
voluntary sector at the heart of his offer to the British public in his
flagship policy, the ‘Big Society’. But, when was the last time you
heard any government minister talk about it? In truth, here we are four years
later and the ‘Big Society’ is dead.
Austerity has hit the sector with many charities closing
across the country unable to cope with the increase in demand for their
services with falling donations and reduced budgets. A poll revealed that
a quarter have already been forced to cut frontline services and that one in
six feared that they might have to close altogether because of public spending
cuts and reduced donations.
At
the same time, we’ve seen an unprecedented attack on charities and voluntary
organisations. Ministers have attacked Oxfam for being ‘overtly
political’ and made threats to food bank charity, the Trussell Trust, for
speaking out. Then, they introduced the Lobbying Act and changes to judicial
review to try to gag charities standing up for the people they represent.
The
‘Big Society’ has been rocked by stories of cronyism, wasting public
money and breaking funding guidelines. Several investigations, including by the
independent National Audit Office, into the Big Society Network, David
Cameron’s pet charity, have revealed the dodgy dealings in the Prime Minister’s
office which forced the Cabinet Office to fund failing projects that were run
by Conservative Party donors.
Charities
play a vital role, not only in providing vital services which support local
people and communities, but also in offering opportunities for people to
volunteer, learn new skills or gain confidence, feel supported and valued.
David
Cameron came to office hailing the Big Society. But we’ve now learnt his vision
was a sham. We urgently need a new partnership with the voluntary sector which
will see it flourish.
