London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

UK charities urgently call on PM to set up emergency fund

UK charities urgently call on PM to set up emergency fund

Cancer Research UK and Comic Relief among charities who signed open letter to Boris Johnson
Hundreds of the UK’s biggest charity names, including Cancer Research UK, Comic Relief and Samaritans, have signed a joint letter to the prime minister, Boris Johnson, calling on the government to set up an emergency support fund for the voluntary sector.

They are warning that hundreds of charities could close in the next few months – or be forced to make major cuts to services – unless ministers create a fund to help voluntary organisations maintain their services.

UK charities face an estimated £10bn shortfall in income as a result of the Covid crisis, and there are fears that the next 12 months could prove critical for many organisations as funds and reserves run out and demand continues to rise.

Over 600 charities and charity figures have signed the letter, sent on Wednesday, warning that the ability of thousands of charities to maintain vital local services will be threatened unless the government steps in with financial support.

The letter says: “Right now, many charities are eating into their reserves, selling whatever assets they have and making staff redundant. That means tomorrow they won’t be able to fund life-saving research, feed struggling families, bring hope to people most at risk isolating at home, tackle existing inequalities made worse by this pandemic.

It adds: “People and communities will go without vital support. Charities make our communities stronger. In the toughest times, they provide support no one else can. We are hugely grateful that your government has helped to keep emergency charity services running – but resources are running dangerously low and services are getting stretched to breaking point.”

Other signatories include: Scouts and Guides, Barnardo’s, the Children’s Society, Shelter, NSPCC, Help for Heroes and Age UK.

Debra Allcock Tyler, chief executive of the Directory for Social Change, one of the signatories, said: “Tens of thousands of charities are at breaking point, facing a double threat of massive increases in demand for help, and drops in income due to the pandemic. Allowing them to fail will rip support away from our most vulnerable people and communities, leaving them no one else to turn to.”

Michelle O’Rourke, chief executive of My Sisters Place, an independent specialist domestic abuse services charity in Middlesbrough, said it was expecting an increase in demand for its services as the local economy comes out of lockdown, at a time when the charity’s finances will get tighter.

She said: “We have real concerns about the demands on domestic abuse services following this pandemic and the sector’s ability to keep responding to and meeting the needs of women and children experiencing abuse. We can’t keep filling gaps and maintaining the work to the level we have been without some investment of resources.”

Larger charities that have announced financial troubles in the past few months include the National Trust, which identified a shortfall of £200m this year, Age UK, which reported a £42m loss of income, and Cancer Research UK, which warned it will lose about £120m in donated income over the next 12 months.

Charities have lost billions from the loss of fundraising events such as city marathons and coffee mornings as well as the enforced closures of charity retail shops – which have collectively lost around £28m a month in income during the pandemic.

The government made £750m in emergency funding available to charities over the past year including grants earmarked for domestic abuse services, health and social care services, food charities, mental health, homelessness, armed forces and loneliness projects.

That money was required to have been spent by the end of March, however, and the voluntary sector has contrasted the speed and scale of financial support made available by the Treasury for private companies with the limited resources set aside for charities.

“Together, they [charities] help to feed the hungry, house the homeless, hold the hands of the dying, find a cure for cancer, preserve our nation’s treasures, and so much more. And right now this safety net that is pulled so expertly together by social change organisations is fraying fast,” said Caron Bradshaw, chief executive of the Charity Finance Group.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×