Recommendation 4

We welcome the £750 million of support for charities delivering frontline services and assisting vulnerable people during the Covid-19 outbreak. Difficult decisions are being taken about which charities should benefit from Government support at this time, however, as the level of financial assistance announced to date falls short of the sums the sector says it needs, the Government must not assume that the problem has been solved or that the crisis facing charities will not grow as reserves are depleted. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport must demonstrate that it is making the ongoing case to HM Treasury for the charity sector to get the support it needs. We back the charity sector’s calls for a stabilisation fund to secure the long- term financial health and organisational diversity of the sector. It also needs to be recognised that some organisations may take time to recover following the ending of the crisis and may need support beyond that point to get to a sustainable position. In addition to the support that has already been announced, the Government should establish further funding to assist charities and voluntary organisations to stay afloat throughout the Covid-19 crisis. This should be available to organisations facing financial pressures, even if they are not involved in the frontline response to Covid-19. We request that the Secretary of State updates us, preferably via an oral hearing as well as in the Government’s written response to this Report, on what progress has been made in securing additional support for charities and tailoring the business measures to them, as well as the Department’s plans for monitoring the ongoing impact of this crisis on the charity sector’s financial resilience. Given the urgency of the matter, we request that we receive this update by Friday 5 June.