The National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF) has revealed that just £55m of £200m of emergency government funding for small charities to cope during the Covid-19 outbreak has been awarded.
The announcement comes as the NLCF announces that the deadline for applications for the money has been set for mid-August.
The NLCF, which is distributing the funding for the government through the Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF), has announced that charities have until 12noon, 17 August to apply.
The NLCF says it plans to finish distributing the funds by the end of October 2020 and has so far awarded funding to more than 2,300 organisatons. So far it has received more than 10,000 applications for CCSF money.
“Whilst continuing to award funding, we have also been keeping a close eye on the level of demand, with applications totalling almost £130 million currently being assessed by our funding teams,” said the NLCF.
“To ensure we can meet as many of these requests as possible, we will be closing the government allocation of the funding to new applications at noon on 17 August. We will continue to assess applications that we have received before this date.”
Funding concerns
The Coronavirus Community Support Fund has caused concern in the sector since it was launched in May.
Earlier this month the Directory of Social Change (DSC) raised concerns around a lack of transparency and delay in distributing the pot of money. This centered around a dearth of updates on how it is being spent.
The NLCF later admitted that just £8.5m (5%) of thre £200m emergency government funding had been distributed to small charities to cope with Covid-19 demands.
The government had pledged in April to offer small charities £370m in funding as part of a total £750m total emergency funding package for the voluntary sector to deal with the impact of Covid-19.
The DSC remains concerned that not all the pledged money will reach charities.
Finally, some news on the Coronavirus Community Support Fund. But important data remains hidden and millions in ’emergency’ funding remains to be distributed - Read what @JKENNEDYDSC has to say here - https://t.co/hVlWkIVZMG
— DSC (@DSC_Charity) July 30, 2020
“As the months have dragged on, these commitments have been watered down, obfuscated, and delayed,” said the DSC.
It added: “Let’s be clear: we don’t believe these problems are down to the NLCF,” said the DSC.
“They’re making the best of a tough situation. Their existing process and experienced staff are being second-guessed by people in government and the private sector who know nothing about charities or grant-making.
“Normal government incompetence and ignorance about anything to do with our sector is now verging into dishonesty, cover-up and malpractice.”
Charities funded
Those that have received funding so far include Barking based mental health charity Ultimate Counselling Training and Support Services, which was handed £10,000 to deliver food parcels and offer mental health counselling to vulnerable people from BAME communities.
Another was Cheshire based Ruby’s Fund, which received just over £30,000 to provide therapy and counselling support to parents and carers of children with disabilities affected by loneliness and anxiety amid the pandemic.
A Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) spokesperson said: "We are providing at pace an unprecedented multi-billion-pound package of government support for charities.
"We are absolutely committed to ensuring taxpayers' money is spent effectively and are working flat out to ensure help reaches those who need it most. The process for reviewing grant applications was agreed by DCMS and the NLCF."
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