Jeremy Hunt announces £100m to charities in spring budget
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said around three-quarters of the funding will be used to deliver grants in 2023-24, targeted at those frontline charities and community organisations most impacted by increased demand for their services from vulnerable people and increased delivery costs.
This is likely to include those organisations providing the most vulnerable people with emergency support including accommodation, warmth and food, the department added.
Around £25m will be used to fund measures over the next two years to increase the energy efficiency and sustainability of voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations. This could include new boilers, heat pumps and insulation allowing them to deliver more efficient services for vulnerable individuals.
Culture secretary Lucy Frazer said: “Charities carry out incredible work supporting vulnerable people and it is vital they can continue to deliver specialist help and advice for those most in need.
“This package will mean charities can support organisations whose services are in demand and provide assistance at this challenging time while also providing funding for energy efficiency measures to reduce their future operating costs.”
Hunt said he has been listening to charities minister Stuart Andrew about the “brilliant work third sector organisations are doing to help people struggling in tough times”.
“They can often reach people in need that central or local government cannot, so I will give his department £100m to support thousands of local charities and community organisations do their fantastic work,” he said.
He also announced an extra £10m over the next two years to charities that address suicide.
Other key announcements
The Treasury announced that tax relief for theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries will stay at rates of 45%-50% until 2025.
It announced charitable tax reliefs will be restricted from next month only to UK charities and community amateur sports clubs. “European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) charities that HMRC has previously accepted as qualifying for charity tax reliefs before 15 March 2023, will have a transitional period until April 2024,” the Treasury documents read. It estimates that this will save taxpayers £5m in 2024-25 and £10m a year after that.
After a campaign from the consumer rights champion Martin Lewis and many charities, Hunt also confirmed that the energy price guarantee will remain at £2,500 until July – it had been set to rise to £3,000.
Hunt also said he will invest £200m in regeneration projects in England and £400m is being set aside for levelling up projects.
The government has also published a call for evidence on options to reform the VAT relief for the installation of energy saving materials in the UK. The call for evidence will consider the inclusion of additional technologies and the possible extension of the relief to include buildings used solely for a relevant charitable purpose.
Meanwhile, the Office for Budget Responsibility reported that inflation in the UK would fall from 10.7% in the final quarter of last year to 2.9% by the end of 2023.
Hunt said the British economy is “proving the doubters wrong” and will avoid recession.
Read how some charities, including NCVO, reacted to the news https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/finance/we-have-been-heard-charity-sector-reacts-to-spring-budget.html